A Bad Deal?
by wellthizizdeprezzing
Summary: Rosalie's the definition of trouble, and poor Bella's out of luck because she just so happens to be a danger magnet. When Bella makes a deal with the notorious blonde to keep out of said trouble, will it go bad, or prove to be the only thing to save her high school career? Human AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A Bad Deal  
**

 **Detention with the Devil**

* * *

"You look like you'd like to kiss me." The mouth in front of Bella moved, it's sultry voice escaping it's lips and sending a bolt of excitement and fear down Bella's spine. Excitement, because the mouth was right; Bella did so badly want to kiss it. But fear because she had been caught staring by the owner of the mouth, one Rosalie Lillian Hale.

Bella jerked up in her seat, blushing hard only to have the mouth chuckle at her. She had been staring unabashedly at Rosalie, the prettiest girl in all of Washington state, from across the detention room. That was like asking for a death sentence. But she had been incredibly lost in her thoughts, her mind drifting to ideas of being able to somehow talk to Rosalie, and her eyes unconsciously hovering over the others full lips. Despite how much the other intimidated Bella, she couldn't help but want to know her.

"Er-what?" Bella asked, turning her head down so that she wouldn't have to stare at those beautiful brown eyes as Rosalie dissected her apart with witty barbs and spot on insults. Rosalie was not only indisputably the prettiest girl, but also the bitchiest. She was known for hanging out only with the Cullen's, an exclusive group of rich and pretty popular kids who also happened to all live in the same household, and being a total bitch to everyone and anyone else, teachers included. She got into a lot of fights physically and verbally in school, and thus ended up in detention a lot of the time. That was why she was in the detention room on a Friday afternoon when everyone else had already left home.

And Bella was the only other person in there besides the now asleep teacher who was supposed to be watching them. How Bella had gotten here was pretty pathetic. She had been caught texting her friend Angela in class and the teacher, riled up from dealing with obnoxious kids all day, took her phone and gave her detention when she should have only gotten a warning for it. So now instead of being on her way home she was stuck in detention right across from Rosalie.

"You were staring for a long time," Rosalie clarified and Bella blushed some more. She had been staring that much was true, but it wasn't her fault. She was so fascinated by the blonde since she'd never been this close to her before. Her hair, her face, her body, and especially her lips, were all so perfect. She could see why the blonde was always the talk of town, even without having to start a fight. Bella had come into the detention room, thinking she was the only one there, when Rosalie came in like she owned the place five minutes later and sat right in front of Bella, setting to work on filing her nails. Bella hadn't been able to stop herself from gawking. Right in front of her was the living goddess. The girl who modeled for national television and companies such as Gucci.

True, Bella had seen her around in the hallways before and during lunch, but they had never been in the same room before. (Not even the cafeteria. The Cullen kids were too cool to eat the school lunches there) And to say in the least that Bella did not have a small obsession on Rosalie was to lie. She knew Rosalie probably didn't know her, even though Bella and her had gone to the same school together and Bella's father had been the one to handle most of Rosalie's transgressions against the law. And Bella knew that she herself seemed like a terribly shallow person only liking the blonde for her looks, but teenage hormones were still hormones and Bella would long wistfully for a chance to talk to the blonde, as probably did so much of the male population. Except they could be more open about it. Forks high school was not as kind to gay girls.

"I'm sorry," Bella squeaked out, burying her head in her arms as she put her head on her desk. Rosalie laughed and Bella flinched, waiting for the inevitable barrage of insults that would come her way.

But it didn't come. "No need to be so embarrassed Bella. A lot of people would like to kiss me." At this Bella peeked out from under her arms. The blonde knew her name? The blonde noted her incredulous look and smirked, her ruby red lips curving up deliciously.

"I know who you are Bella. Your father and I have had a lot of time to get acquainted. It must be a cold day in hell when the chief of police's daughter is in detention." Bella felt her cheeks warm up at this. "What are you in here for?"

"Something stupid," Bella responded, not willing to divulge the truth of the situation. Rosalie would think her pathetic for being in detention for texting in class.

"Really?" the blonde arched a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. "What exactly?"

Bella swallowed deeply. Why wouldn't the blonde just drop this? "It's not important now," she insisted, trying to change the topic. "What about you?"

Rosalie tilted her head in a really-your-going-to-do-this motion but didn't comment on this. "I beat up this bitch who decided she wanted to talk shit about me. We'll see how well she talks shit now with her teeth missing."

Bella shivered at this despite herself, imagining Rosalie pummeling a poor girl senseless on a bathroom floor, her teeth shooting out of her mouth like rain from the sky.

"I've told you what I'm in here for but you still haven't told me." Rosalie leaned forward at this, elbows placed on her desk, gaze intent on Bella causing the younger girl to squirm in her seat. "Well?" So Rosalie wasn't going to drop the topic. Great, just great.

"It's silly really, it's-I got caught for texting. In class." Bella's voice got quieter at the end of the sentence and Rosalie chuckled, making Bella cringe.

"Aw, sweet innocent Bella." Her laugh was deep and melodious, not loud enough to wake the asleep detention teacher. And the way she pronounced Bella's name in this sentence made her name seem beautiful. She kind of wanted Rosalie to say it again. "Stuck in detention for something simple like this. How will daddy feel about this?"

"He doesn't know," she mumbled out.

"Is this your first time in detention? Of course it is," Rosalie answered her own question a second later. "It's incredibly boring isn't it?" Rosalie leaned back in her seat, tracing her finger in circles on her desk. Bella followed the motion with her eyes, unable to look away for some strange hypnotic reason. Rosalie's fingers were so slim and that red nail polish matched her perfectly.

"Tell me about yourself Bella." The request caught the brunette off guard and she reverted her eyes from Rosalie's trailing finger to her face. It took a lot for her not to look away, as Bella was still worried the girl would get pissed off at her for looking too long Bella always felt like she was staring for too long at the blonde. "There's nothing else to do, might as well get to know ourselves better."

Rosalie wanted to know about her? What was going on? Was it just simply because of the boredom? What could she even say about herself? A thousand questions erupted in Bella's mind. Bella felt her chest soar with joy at her obsessions interest in her. She was actually having a conversation with the blonde which was more than most could say they had done. Rosalie wasn't a talkative person; she only opened her mouth to disparage others. She was more comfortable with communicating with her fists. Even the Cullen's had a hard time talking to her. Bella was determined to make it a good conversation, make the blonde laugh, realize how cool of a person she was and maybe, maybe they could even become friends? Bella wasn't even going to think about being able to date the blonde because there was no way in hell that was going to happen.

Full of hope she opened her mouth only to mumble out,"Um, well, um..." Bella played with her hands, looking down at her nails. _Wow, way to go, how great. Best conversation ever,_ she thought sarcastically as she beat herself up mentally. What could she say? Could she still recover the conversation? Shit, was she taking too long to respond? Would Rosalie think she was being rude? She couldn't let down the blonde, she had to say something now, but what, what was interesting enough to say? Her mind was in full panic mode and she said the first thing that seemed remotely unique to say.

"I'm gay!" she yelled out, instantly freezing as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

Fuck, did she just really say that?

Her blood coursed cold in her veins and her head grew fuzzy, black edging into her vision. She tried to control her breathing as she felt panic overwhelm her. She was so shocked by her own stupidity that she couldn't even think of a way to fix this situation, to pass if off as a joke. She was still frozen in place when Rosalie's deep laugh brought her out of her panicked state.

"You get right to the point, don't you? I was thinking talking more about favorite hobbies or likes and dislikes, but if you wanna talk about sexual preferences then," at this Rosalie spread out her hands. "Be my guest," she finished.

Bella let out a deep breath, grateful for the blonde's neutral reaction. She would have thought that Rosalie of all people would make fun of Bella for this. She unclasped the vice like grip she had on her legs and tried to calm down enough to continue. "No, it's fine, I um I don't wanna talk about it," she said quietly, forcing the words through her throat, feeling as if she was going to be sick.

"Why not, little Bella?" Rosalie bat her eyelashes at the brunette, taking on the voice one might use to a child. "I'm not going to bite I promise."

An image of Rosalie biting down on Bella's neck filled the brunette's head and she flushed another shade of red. Rosalie noticed this and the uncomfortable way Bella was squirming in her seat and her lips twitched up in smile. "Or maybe you'd like me to bite your neck?"

"No!" Bella cried out in panic, (even thought for her body the idea was a very resolute yes) and looked over at the teacher who let out a huge snore. He didn't stir at her loud tone and she let out a relieved sigh. Last thing she needed was for a teacher to know about her sexual preferences. But speaking of them...shit. Rosalie knew about it! She could literally ruin Bella in a day if she wanted to by spreading that information around! And then it would be Phoenix all over again! Bella would lose all her friends and then be bullied by the whole school.

She turned panicked eyes over to the blonde who was chuckling softly at Bella's outburst. Bella needed to plead with her to not say anything. But would the blonde listen to her pleas? "Uh, Rosalie." That came out as a croak so Bella cleared her throat and tried again. "Can you...not tell anyone?"

"Tell anyone about what?" The blonde knew full well what it was Bella was asking but was going to make the girl say it out loud.

"Can you not tell anyone I'm...gay?"

"Oh? You didn't come out yet?" she asked coyly. She put a finger to her chin in a contemplative look as Bella shook her head yes to this. The brunette was unable to look at the blonde. "No one knows. Not even your friends. And you don't want anyone to know, do you?" Bella nodded in the affirmative for each of these.

"And why should I keep this a secret for you?"

"Because I don't want anyone to know...I'm not ready," Bella mumbled out that weak excuse.

"Oh?" Rosalie arched a brow, taking way too much delight from harassing the poor girl. "But I hear sometimes those who are in the closet just need a little push to exit it. Would you like that? I could help you with it."

Bella shook her head, her hands clamping her knees tightly. She could feel beads of sweat roll down her back. This wasn't what she wanted the blonde to do! But she should have know that Rosalie would take this route. In fact, maybe if Bella hadn't said anything at all, the blonde would have never taken to knowing how much this bothered Bella and thus Bella wouldn't have to worry about her secret being spilled. But no. Bella just had to panic and over think things.

"No."

"What?" Rosalie put a hand up to her ear. "I can't hear you. What was it you said?" She had heard plenty well.

"I said no. Don't do that." Bella hated how pitiful she sounded as she said this. But then again she hated a lot of things about herself.

"Then I guess I could not tell anyone. But," at this a thoughtful pause, "that would cost you."

Bella cringed at this. Of course. What did Rosalie want now. Bella's joy at having Rosalie first talk to her was slowly turning into regret.

"And what would the price be?" She dreaded to ask this. Would Rosalie beat her up?

"Look up."

"Huh?" Bella was confused by that demand, but she complied.

"I hate it when people don't look at me when I'm talking to them. So keep your eyes here," Rosalie indicated with one finger to her haughty face. "Unless I tell you to stop looking, you don't. Go it?"

Bella nodded her head yes and then Rosalie went on. She leaned forwards on the desk, eyes bright. "I'll keep your secret but in exchange you've got to help me out."

"Help out? With what?" Bella hoped it wouldn't be something illegal.

Rosalie shrugged, leaning back into her chair. "I haven't thought of what exactly yet. But just know that if I say so, I want you to be there on my every beck and call."

 _That doesn't sound very good,_ Bella thought but who was she to refuse. If she did then Rosalie would ruin her faster than water to a piece of paper. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad helping Rosalie. Maybe the two could become friends in this manner.

Bella laughed at that thought. Rosalie didn't do friends. Bella should know that. The blonde only manipulated people. But Bella had wanted to foolishly believe and it was this belief that had lead her to opening her stupid mouth and blurting out her sexual preference in the first place because she had been so troubled on making decent conversation with the blonde.

"Fine...I guess," Bella mumbled out. "But if you spill, then my help to you ends."

Rosalie arched a brow at this, mild surprise on her face. Had Bella said something odd and caught her off guard? But the blonde quickly recovered. "Deal."

And then that was it. Rosalie went back to filing her nails for the rest of the detention and Bella had been able to go back to her daydreaming, looking out the window, which was ruined by the fact that she was now indebted to Rosalie and there was no telling what the girl would want her to do.

Her fingers curled over her desk top and Bella cursed herself for her stupidity. She always seemed to attract trouble to herself because of her own idiocy and now she had a feeling she had just brought enough trouble upon herself to fuck over the rest of her high school career.

 **A/N: So this may or may not be a one-shot. I'm still deciding on what direction I could go in with this series and I have some sort of vague ideas, but we'll see what I can come up with. Basically, one of the plot points would be Bella gradually getting more of a backbone and the pursuit of a relationship with Rosalie.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A Bad Deal?**

 **Feeding the Demon**

"Bella, are you sure you're fine?" Angela asked with gentle concern for her friend, patting the brunette's hand.

"Yes, I'm sure," Bella muttered, unable to look the other in the eye as she retracted her hand. The two were in a crowded cafeteria now, Bella gulping down her lunch. She was so hungry. She couldn't remember the last time she had properly ate at lunch time. And it was only happening now because Rosalie had gotten sent home early for disrupting a class.

Jessica, Mike, Lauren and Eric were sitting next to them, observing the two's conversation politely. All of them seemed worried, except for Jessica who was doing a bad job of hiding her smirk behind her sandwich.

"It's just that.." Angela bit her lip as she tried to find a way to convey this without annoying Bella or scaring her off from answering. "You haven't been eating lunch in the cafeteria. At all. For the past month. That's a long time."

"I'm fine. I just wanted some time to myself," Bella mumbled out. She could feel all her friend's watching her and she hated this, hated their attention and scrutiny.

"Are you anorexic or something?" Lauren asked in that nasally tone of voice that Bella could never get used to no matter how many times she heard it. It made whatever she said sound condescending whether she meant it that way or not.

"I'm not," Bella insisted, pausing in her devouring of an apple to glare at the other. "What gives you that idea?" Was the fact that she was practically inhaling this food now not a good clue to dissuade that notion?

Lauren shrugged. "You disappear during lunch."

"That doesn't mean I don't eat." Bella was feeling really uncomfortable with their questioning and their prying into her business. If she had known they were going to be like this then she would have not eaten her lunch in the cafeteria. Naturally they had tried to ask her during class or in between periods on what was going on with her but it had only been one or two people at a time and Bella had easily brushed their questions off. But now it was the full combined force of all four of them and it was overwhelming. She sat hunched over her lunch tray as if she could somehow ignore them by doing this. As if their questions could bounce off of her.

"Did something happen in your family? Is it making you depressed?" Mike asked. "You can talk to us. To me," he suggested hopefully and she rolled her eyes at this. He was trying to be there for her only because he had a crush on her and wanted her to like him. _Not going to happen, as I'm super duper gay._

"No, nothing of that sort happened," Bella insisted, getting tired of their pestering.

"Then, do you not like us?" Eric half joked. "You keep avoiding us during lunch. And you keep brushing off our concern."

"Nooo. It's not that either."

Angela could see that Bella was getting irritated and gave the back of her hand one more pat before she turned to the group. "I think Bella will tell us when it's time. When she's comfortable with it."

Jessica's smug face only grew smugger. "Oh, I don't think Bella will be ready to talk about this any time."

"Why do you say that?" Eric asked. Bella had a bad feeling about what Jessica would say next; she was a notorious gossip and she knew the most ridiculous and obscure of rumors.

"Someone got in trouble with miss popular and now has to go buy her lunches for her," Jessica cooed out and Bella's first thought was, _that's why the bitch looked so smug,_ followed by her second thought of, _she really wants to get on my shit list_.

"You're buying Rosalie lunch?" Angela turned incredulous eyes on the brunette who shrugged as if this wasn't a big deal. But it was. The day after Bella had entered the deal with Rosalie, the blonde had approached her in the school halls and taken down Bella's number. Bella's heart had been beating like crazy when she heard the blonde ask for it. Rosalie wanted her number? It was only something she had dreamed for forever. Of course the happiness was shot down when Bella realized she wanted her number for the deal so she could make Bella do things for her.

And during lunch that day the text had come.

 **Meet me outside.**

Kids at Forks high could eat outside if they wanted to, only Freshman couldn't. And Bella, being a sophomore, had left to meet the blonde, her chest thrumming with some sort of excitement. The blonde was standing there, a touch impatient, looking gorgeous as always.

"Hi," Bella had said softly, cursing herself for how pathetic she sounded. Why was it that next to Rosalie she could never say anything right, or even have a backbone? Maybe it was how intimidating Rosalie's beauty was-it made anyone feel lesser standing next to her.

"What took you so long?" the blonde snapped. Bella wanted to point out that it had barely been two minutes since the bell for lunch rang but she didn't say anything. She just shrugged and Rosalie frowned at this. "Here, take this money and go buy me lunch from Jambre's." Rosalie held out her hand, a stack of one's in it. Bella took the money, her fingers brushing against the back of Rosalie's knuckles. Bella nearly jerked back her hand and dropped the money as tingles spread through her fingers. Rosalie arched a brow at Bella's reaction but didn't say anything, thankfully.

"Okay," Bella had said and left to go to the food place. It was very popular in Forks and as such there was always a long line for it. Waiting for the food ate up a significant portion of Bella's lunch time, the girl herself not having eaten anything yet herself. When she got the food she brought it over to a picnic table outside her school where all the cool kids were sitting. Bella had seen them across the hall and even had one of them, Emmett, in her class before, but it made her very nervous to approach them like this. She figured she'd just drop off the food and leave. But when she quickly scanned their heads she saw the blonde wasn't there. Edward was listening to something on his headphones, Emmett was playing a game on his phone, and Alice and Jasper were talking to one another as they sat on the table top but no Rosalie.

Should Bella text Rosalie and ask her where she was? No, somehow it seemed wrong to text the other.

"Uh, do you know...where Rosalie is?" Bella asked in a squeaky voice as she approached the table. Jasper and Alice paused in their conversations to look over at Bella. The brunette felt inadequate standing in front of them with her ratty jeans, scuffed up converse and baggy sweater. In contrast they all wore designer clothes, all sleek blacks and whites and browns.

Alice's lips had curled up in a leer. "And what did you do to piss Rosalie off?"

"Huh?" came out of Bella's mouth.

"She's got you making it up to her. I doubt you would go buy her food from the kindness of your own heart. So what did you do wrong?" Alice leaned forward at this and Bella took a step back, feeling unnerved by the interest in the other's eyes.

"There you are, took you fucking forever," Rosalie grumbled out, making her appearance and Bella was glad for the interruption. She walked over and snatched up the food from Bella's hands.

"There was a long line. As always," Bella hastened to explain as the blonde sat down on the table.

"There always is. That's why I sent you, so I won't have to waste my time," Rosalie threw over her shoulder without looking back and Bella knew she was dismissed. She trudged back to class, her stomach growling as she had missed her whole lunch period.

This pattern continued all month long. Bella would go out to wait on line for Rosalie's food thus missing her own lunch period. She began to make her own lunches so that she could at least eat something while she waited on line. Bella's friends had begun to notice her absences and became worried for her. But she hadn't actually thought anyone would know the real reason as to why she was missing lunch until Jessica blurted it out. Bella should have known the blonde would know. After all, she made it her business to stick her nose into other people's business.

Bella felt a surge of protective anger at her Jessica's words. "That's not true! I'm just working on a private side project!" she sputtered out this excuse, not wanting her friends to think her weak for being bullied, or for being used by someone else.

"Bella-!" Eric started but the girl had slammed her tray down in her anger and then gotten up, taking her stuff with her.

She didn't want her friends to know. Besides, it was only getting lunch for Rosalie and nothing else. She could deal with that even if it was for the next three years, because it would mean her secret was safe.

And speaking of Rosalie...the girl had just texted her. Bella pulled out the phone from her pocket after it stopped vibrating.

 **I've got detention this Friday afternoon. So you know what that means, you're going to go get detention too because I am not sitting in there by myself.**

Bella let out a strangled sigh, her eyes opening wide in shock and disbelief.

 _So much for only getting her lunch..._

She should have seen this coming.

 **A/N: So I think I've got some of the plot figured out. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out fully by the next update.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**A Bad Deal?**

 **The Second Coming of Detention**

* * *

With heavy steps Bella made her way to the detention room. She still couldn't believe what she had done: get detention willingly. When the text from Rosalie had come, demanding the brunette to incur the wrath of the teachers so that she could accompany Rosalie in her punishment, Bella had been taken aback. Who did Rosalie think she was, bossing Bella around like this with crazy demands? But then Bella remembered who Rosalie was-part time model, head bitch in charge, and no holds barred fighter. So, after much moral debate, Bella had finally given into the demand and texted in class, getting her phone taken away and earning a detention.

And now here she was, on yet another Friday afternoon, much like the one she had first met Rosalie on. She stood in front of the door to the room, thumbing her book bag's strap nervously. Why did the blonde even want her here? Why did she want Bella to entertain her? It couldn't go well, that Bella knew for certain. Sighing, she pushed the door open.

The room was empty except for the detention teacher who lifted his eyes up lazily from his paper to instruct her to sit down, and Rosalie, who was filing her nails. The blonde flitted her eyes up to the brunette and a small smirk tugged up her lip corners before her eyes looked over at the desk in front of her, indicating this was where Bella should sit. Bella smiled weakly at it as she took a seat at the desk. Now what?

What was Rosalie going to do? Or did she simply want to see Bella suffer detention with her? The blonde continued filing her nails, unperturbed and now acting as if Bella wasn't in the room at all. Bella sighed softly and laid down her head on top of her bag. Her father wouldn't be happy about this at all. Last time he had scolded her for getting in trouble for texting in class. She was the chief of police's daughter after all. She shouldn't be exhibiting such behavior, she should be the very epitome of rule abiding. Or at least that was what her father wanted her to act like.

Well, she couldn't. She couldn't live up to his high standards. Such as the ones where he wanted her to marry some nice guy. _Sorry, but I don't like men._ She still hadn't come out to him and she felt no need to do so. She'd leave Forks as soon as she could and go to a college where such things would be more acceptable.

Bella lay there with her head on her bag, feeling tense. The room was quiet, save for the rustle of paper's moving, for the ticking of the clock's hand, or for the filing of the blonde's nails. She felt restless. And bored. Waiting for something to happen, for Rosalie to do something.

She closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep, not believing she had gotten detention for the sake of Rosalie just so she could sit here bored. Bella did the stupidest things sometimes. It was probably what got her into so much trouble in her last school. She had a tough time saying no to people, which made people think they could get away with asking her all sorts of inane demands. She had gotten wrapped up with a bad group last time. A group of delinquents that forced her to push drugs for them. She had almost gotten expelled for it, but luckily had escaped punishment by the skin of her teeth only because she wasn't a user of drugs herself.

But because the other kids had been expelled they had come after her with a vengeance. They stalked her, cyber bullied her, and left her nasty little gifts at her mother's house. This had escalated to such a point that they had moved houses, gotten a restraining order. Still, that hadn't been enough and it wasn't until Bella was physically hurt that it was decided she should move out of state. And thus she had come to live with her father Charlie.

In Forks, she promised things would be different. She promised she wouldn't let herself be roped up into doing such things again. And here she was already moving to someone elses whims. Bella hated herself for being so weak. And it was always towards pretty girls. It had happened with Victoria, and now with Rosalie. When would she ever learn?

With those negative thoughts she eventually drifted off, only awoken by a big piece of balled up paper hitting her on the head. She lifted her head up, eyes blurry. Rosalie was looking at her, impatient. "How long were you planning to sleep for?" Her tone of voice was soft but harsh.

"There's nothing else to do," Bella grumped out loudly, rubbing her eyes. Rosalie shot her a warning look. "He's sleeping. Finally. So don't yammer about loudly and wake him up."

Bella turned her head to see that the detention teacher had indeed fallen asleep. His paper was held loosely in his hands as he sat slumped in his seat. He always fell asleep during detention. Bella wondered what was the point of asking him to look after the kids if he couldn't stay awake.

There was the noise of a chair sliding back and Rosalie got out of her seat. Watching with wide eyes, Bella saw the blonde make her way over to her, pulling up a chair to sit in front of Bella. "So," she propped her chin up in her hand. "Who do you like?"

"W-what?" Bella sputtered out. Where was this coming from?

"Which girl in this school strikes your fancy?"

"Oh," Bella felt her face flush. Right. Rosalie was probably curious about that. But why was she curious about it? Was she asking just to make Bella discomforted? Probably. Or more likely to find out something even more embarrassing to hang over the brunette's head to get her to do more things. "No one," she answered knowing the answer wouldn't satisfy Rosalie.

She was right. The blonde scoffed. "Don't give me that bullshit. How would you know you're gay if you don't have a crush on someone? You can't."

"Yea, you can," Bella countered, a touch defensively. Who was a straight person to tell her this? "It's the same way that a straight person knows their straight without even having to date someone."

"Hm," Rosalie commented on that. She didn't look convinced. "So who is it?"

Damn this girl was insistent. Could Bella shake her off? Probably not with the way the girl was looking so intensely at her. The blonde's brown eyes were on her, boring onto the brunette's skin as if she could see all the secrets she held there. She opened her mouth to speak but Rosalie was impatient. "Is it that blonde haired girl you sit with?"

Bella furrowed her brows at this. "Jessica?" she asked with disgust in her voice. She'd kill herself if she had to date her. The thought disturbed her more than having to date a guy.

"Then her friend?" Rosalie clicked her tongue as she went down some mental list she seemed to have.

"No, I do not like Lauren. Or Jessica, or anyone in my friend group," Bella said feeling a bit annoyed at Rosalie's prying. "I already told you that I'm gay, because I just know I am without me having to date anyone to know it. Or without me having to like anyone."

Rosalie waited a beat, amused by Bella's annoyance at her before she added this, coyly. "So I take it you like someone outside your friend group."

"N-no! Stop it!" Bella sputtered, as Rosalie was inching closer to the truth. Bella knew she was gay ever since her crush on Victoria, the theory only redoubled when she had gained a crush on Rosalie.

Rosalie arched a brow at Bella's discomfort. She leaned in closer, her tone low. "Oo, and who is it? Do you have a crush on the little dyke, Emma?" There was only one openly gay girl in the school. But Bella didn't know her, much less even like her. Emma was very in the face gay, forcing it down the throats of everyone that she was gay. Bella found it irritating only because of her own inability to be confident in her sexuality.

"Just because she's gay doesn't mean I like her. Just like me being gay doesn't mean I have a crush on every straight girl. I'm not like that. And neither is any other lesbian."

"Someone's getting defensive," Rosalie sang, her eyes dancing with mirth.

"No, I'm not," Bella said more calmly when she realized her words were getting more heated. It was just hard to rein in everything she felt dealing with issues on sexuality because she had never been able to talk to someone about this openly. And here she could, with Rosalie of all people. Bella again wondered why the blonde seemed fixated on this topic with Bella. Was it because she had never really met another gay person before? But there was Emma...so why couldn't she ask her?

It probably lent more to Bella's current situation. She was an undercover gay, asking Rosalie to keep that secret and maybe the blonde felt like she could ask all these wildly inappropriate things of her because Bella couldn't snitch on her to anyone, and Rosalie wouldn't lose credibility if she hung out with Bella, but she would if she was seen around Emma. Emma wasn't really high up on the social ladder because of her openness, while Bella was in the middle. Not really popular but not really uncool. Just bland. She was neutral territory much like her friend group.

Rosalie wasn't dropping the topic. "If it's not Emma, and since you seem reluctant on saying who it is you like, then it means they must be out of your league. A popular kid."

Bella's heart skipped a beat at this. Shit, she did not like the way Rosalie was thinking.

"And since there's only a handful of popular kids, mainly me and my friend group, that leaves me with two options," Rosalie was saying this slowly, loving the way that Bella's face was going pale and how she had begun to grip the table harder unconsciously. "Is it Alice, or is it me?" At this Rosalie had someone gotten closer without Bella noticing, or maybe Bella blanked out a bit due to the panic rising in her chest and missed it. The blonde was hovering in front of her, out of her seat, hands flat on Bella's desk top. Her face was close to Bella's, so close that Bella could feel the warmth from the other girl. Rosalie's scent encapsulated her and Bella tried to stop herself from drinking in the sweet smell greedily. How could one smell so sweet but act so vile?

"Which one, Bella?" Rosalie was still speaking but in hushed tones. Bella felt the urge to lean away from the other, to get away from her, but she also felt the urge to lean closer, to embrace her. Her brain was short circuiting and she could barely think on what to say or what to do. She needed to refute this claim but she was afraid if she opened her mouth now she'd lean forward to kiss the other.

Bella wished once more that she didn't have a penchant for falling for dangerous and unattainable women that were bad for her health.

Rosalie leaned back after what felt like a long time and snorted in annoyance. "No answer?" Bella couldn't tell if she had made the other angry or not. Rosalie sat back down in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. She cocked her head to the side, as if trying to read Bella's face. The brunette only flushed under the others scrutiny and turned her head to the side, hoping her long locks would cover up her red cheeks. There was a long silence, interspersed with snores from the teacher, in which Bella hoped the other would now leave her alone. She didn't want to be questioned anymore. She was afraid she would slip up and blurt out that she had a crush on Rosalie. She was terrified as to what the other would do to her. Beat her up? Shame her in front of everyone?

"I noticed you didn't mention Angela's name." Rosalie's words after such a long silence startled Bella and she jumped in her seat, turning her eyes to the other. "I'm going to take that as you liking her. Do you?" She leaned closer at this when she noticed Bella still hadn't spoken. "Or it is Alice?" She reached out a hand and brushed back the stray lock of hair that had fallen free, behind Bella's ear. "Or me?" Bella blushed fiercely at this which she feared would only serve to reinforce the blonde's hunches, so before Rosalie could say anything she blurted out hastily, "It's Angela. It's her."

Rosalie chuckled as she let her hand drop. Bella swore she could still feel the others touch. "How cliché, having a crush on the best friend."

Bella shrugged violently at this, wishing detention could already end so she could go home and bury her face in the pillow and scream loudly at her own stupidity for complying to Rosalie's demand of going to detention with her. Bella should have known the other would seek to unnerve Bella as a form of entertainment to pass the time. Bella wished that hadn't been the case, that she had wanted her to be here because she had wanted to talk normally with her, have a girl to girl talk. Why couldn't Bella ever have a crush on some normal girl? A girl like Angela would be great actually. But no, Bella's hormones were attracted to people who were her complete opposites.

"Have you confessed to her? Of course not," Rosalie didn't wait for Bella's response. "You haven't even come out yet. But don't worry. I can help with that." A smirk grew on her face as she sat back in her seat. Bella's heart jumped at her words.

"You said you wouldn't tell anyone-"

"I won't. I'm just going to help you confess your feelings to her."

Bella's jaw dropped open at those words. Rosalie had said it as if it was the most normal of ideas, but it wasn't. "You what-? Why would you want to do that?"

"I take care of my playthings," was Rosalie's blunt response.

 _Plaything? Since when?_ Bella didn't know how to feel about this. Her mind was horrified by this idea while her body unhelpfully got aroused. _What sort of plaything?_ Her libido asked coyly. _Not that sort,_ she mentally berated herself.

"Besides, it'll make this boring school more interesting. And I'm sure you can use all the help you need with the romance department. You don't have a lot to work with."

At Rosalie's flippant comment on Bella's looks the brunette clenched her hands tightly. "I don't need your help," she insisted with as much acid as she could muster.

"Yes. You do," Rosalie said patronizingly before patting her on the top of her head and moving her chair back to her seat. And just in time. For the teacher let out a huge snore, coughing loudly to clear his throat. This woke him up and when he gazed around the room he saw Rosalie and Bella sitting where they had once been. But the anger coiled in the brunette went over his head completely as did the smug look the blonde sported. He then went back to reading his paper.

 **A/N: I have up to chapter 16 planned out at this time. As for the pacing of the story, there will be a little bit of Rosalie being a bitch to Bella before the two get to be on somewhat friendly terms.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A Bad Deal?**

 **The Devil Shops Prada**

Apparently Sundays were not off the list of days that Rosalie could force Bella into doing something with her. And this something was shopping, which Bella hated with a passion equivalent to her hatred for having seasonal allergies, for getting up early, and for homophobic people. Yet she couldn't say no to Rosalie, as she still feared the blonde revealing her secret to others and so she had sucked it up and waited for Rosalie to pull in front of her house at nine in the morning for a shopping trip.

The girl's car was a Maserati as she had the money from her modeling jobs to afford one. Still, Bella had never been this close to such a car and especially never ridden in one. Despite her hatred for shopping and for being pulled out of bed this early, she was a tad excited to ride in it.

The blonde honked at her to get in and she complied, almost afraid to sit on the seat for worry she would ruin it or something. A stupid belief, but Bella was worried she would ruin the car and then have to pay for it, something she would not be able to afford in her teenage life or adult life anytime soon. Shutting the door behind her, she inhaled the scent of new car smell, overlaid by Rosalie's personal scent of flowers.

"We're going to the mall out of state," Rosalie said as way of greeting. "I don't need people recognizing me. I want to shop in peace."

"Right," Bella nodded her head, unsure what else to say. In this close space with Rosalie she felt even more self conscious than usual. The other was dressed very fashionably. She had on a gray crop top and black skinny jeans. On her head she sported a pair of stylish sunglasses, her blonde hair done in a wavy manner. If she was hoping to not be noted by others, then she was certainly going about it the wrong way. She was gorgeous as always. Bella felt plain next to her, in her t-shirt and jeans.

The blonde pulled the car out of Bella's driveway and zoomed down the road, going well past the speed limit. Not that Bella was going to point that out. She'd rather avoid annoying the blonde. Still, she couldn't believe this was happening. She was going on a trip. With Rosalie. In _her car_. How many boys had dreamed of this moment? Probably a ton. And Bella would have loved to brag about it if the situation had been a bit different.

 _Plaything, huh,_ she groused to herself. _What does she mean by that? She hasn't exactly been rude to me. Just loves making me squirm in my seat. And send me to get food for her._ Rosalie's actions were confusing to Bella. Clearly she didn't see the other as her equal but she wasn't entirely downgrading her like Bella had experienced in her old high school from her bullies there. Was, Rosalie, even technically bullying her? It wasn't like she was making Bella use her own cash to buy her lunch. But she was in a sense blackmailing her.

Bella let out a frustrated sigh. What was she to think or do? Why couldn't the blonde have just asked one of her friend's to go on this trip with her? Being around the blonde always made her over analyze everything; to think constantly about her.

"What are you sighing about?" Rosalie asked and Bella jerked in her seat, not expecting the other to ask her anything. Why was she even asking? Did she care? There was a spark of hope in Bella's chest which she squashed down as she knew the other didn't really care and was just trying to come up with some sort of conversation.

"Why did you take me along, and not Alice or something?" Bella blurted out before she could stop herself, the curiosity getting the better of her. As soon as she said those words she clamped her lips shut, her face growing red. Shoot, she didn't really mean to ask that.

"They all have a life to tend to and you don't," Rosalie said, seemingly offended that it seemed like no one wanted to go with her, and Bella winced at her harsh words. Okay, so the blonde could be mean to Bella if she wanted to be. Perhaps her true full bitchiness hadn't come out yet. But Bella knew the other was capable of having a verbal bitch off, as well as a physical brawl. "Besides, they won't carry me bags if I tell them to do it, and you will." The way she confidentially said it made Bella want to disprove her but the brunette knew she wouldn't do that. She didn't want to get stuck in a mall out of state with no way of getting back home. Already she was coming up with worst case scenarios as to what could happen if she pissed the blonde off today.

"Okay," was all Bella could say in a small voice. The rest of the car ride was spent in silence as Bella fiddled with her hands. Rosalie put the radio on and she hummed along with the words, tapping her thumbs on the wheel as she drove. Not once did her gaze drift over to Bella; she almost acted as if the other wasn't in her car at all. Bella supposed she should be grateful for that as she wouldn't be forced to talk and fall into another uncomfortable conversation, which was what always happened when talking to the blonde. Bella blamed that equal parts on herself for being so self conscious in the blonde's presence and on the blonde being intimidating.

The two hour drive eventually ended and Rosalie pulled the car into the parking spot. "We're hitting up a lot of stores today, starting with the Prada store on the second floor, so I hope you can hold up a lot of bags," Rosalie tossed over her shoulder as she strode quickly from her car, Bella struggling to keep up with her.

For the rest of the day they spent time walking from one store to the next, and Rosalie wasn't kidding when she said she was expecting Bella to carry around her bags. By the time noon hit, the girl was bogged down with twenty bags, all from brand name stores. Her feet hurt, as did her head, and she was starving. Rosalie didn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, so Bella kept her mouth shut and followed the other obediently.

Finally, when it hit three pm, Rosalie stretched her arms over her head and announced that they were going to go to the food court as she was starved. Bella let out a silent thanks as she was sure her stomach was trying to eat itself from how hungry she was and set down all the bags at a table Rosalie indicated to.

"Get me lunch," Rosalie instructed, handing Bella some money. "And be quick about it."

Bella got the food after a ten minute wait and then made a quick stop to get some food of her own. She placed down the tray of food in front of Rosalie who had been reading something on her phone. At the sight of her meal, a salad, she put her phone away and began to eat. Bella did the same, chewing nervously on her fries.

"You're eating that?" scoffed the blonde at the greasy food on Bella's plate, lifting her chin up arrogantly. "No one straight or gay is gonna go after you if you look like a bloated pig."

For a second the words made the food in Bella's mouth taste like ash but then she shrugged. She'd heard this line so many times by now, that it was overrated. "Are we going to continue shopping?" she asked instead, hoping that the answer would be a no. She wanted to go home.

Rosalie didn't look pleased that her comment had had no impact on Bella but moved on. "No. We still have to pick up something for you."

"For me?" Bella nearly choked on her fries at hearing those words. What?

"I can't have you dressing like a hobo if you're going to be walking next to me. You need an outfit update." Rosalie wrinkled her nose as if Bella's clothes personally offended her on some deep level. She stabbed her fork down on her lettuce and raised to her mouth. "We're going to Forever 21."

"You're buying...me clothes?" Bella breathed out, almost afraid to say this. She set down the fries she had in her hand, fearing they would fall from her slackened grip.

Rosalie laughed at this. "Oh god, no. As if. You're buying your own clothes. I'm just picking them out."

"I don't have money to pay for them," Bella argued, not liking this at all. "And I'm not some doll you can just dress up. I have a right to what goes on my body!"

Rosalie laughed once more at this. "Sweetie," she said, not at all sweetly. "You don't look like a doll. At all. And I don't care if you have the money or not. I'm sure you have a credit card. Just use that to buy it."

"But-"

"If you don't like this, then I suppose I could always tell everyone how you're actually a sad little dyke. Then you and Emma can go off into your gay little world and make out or whatever other gross shit it is you do."

Bella was fuming with anger at those words. Perhaps she had misjudged Rosalie and her bitchiness levels towards Bella, because right now they were about a five out of ten on the HBIC scale. "What pleasure do you even derive from making me dress differently. I don't understand," Bella mumbled darkly under her breath.

"Pleasure?" Rosalie's lips curled up in disgust. "Don't ever assume I derive any pleasure from you, you sick pervert."

Bella wanted to reply that yes, Rosalie did indeed get a kick out of bossing Bella around if she was doing this, but she didn't say anything more on the matter.

They cleaned up their meals and then went on their way to the Forever 21 store. Rosalie ordered Bella to walk three feet behind her like before, so that they wouldn't be seen as friends. Rosalie also got some catcalls on the short walk over, but she ignored them as she had with the ones in the morning. So far it seemed no one recognized her from her modeling works.

Once they entered the store, Rosalie went from rack to rack, picking up clothes and looking at them before she compared them to Bella's body, often times frowning and shaking her head as she came to some internal decisions. This was the way it went for most of the hour until the blonde shoved the pile of clothes she had amassed into Bella's hands and pushed her not so gently in the way of the cashier.

Bella was surprised that the blonde didn't insist on her trying the clothes on, but then she probably thought that Bella's figure would be too 'horrific' to look at. Plus, Bella hated trying on clothes in the fitting room so she was glad for this. What she wasn't glad for was the cost of these clothes. She was spending well over a hundred on them. But she didn't want word getting out she was gay, so she grit her teeth and pulled out her credit card with shaking hands. She was sort of praying that her card would get declined but it went through and she heaved out a great sigh as if it physically hurt her to depart from her money. She was aware of Rosalie watching this exchange the whole time.

"See, that wasn't so hard," Rosalie purred as they left the store. "And now with better clothes, you have a chance of going after Angela."

"Are you _still_ on that?" Bella growled out. It was all a lie that she only told to get the blonde off her back.

"Relax. It's just fun and games," Rosalie rolled her eyes.

 _Maybe for you,_ Bella thought to herself. _But for me, it's my life and my friends you're going to be messing with and I don't think I like that at all._

But it was a bit too late for regrets now.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Bad Deal?**

 **Drunk as Hell**

 **A/N: Posting this chapter up early because I will be busy next week with travel and won't have time to update then. So no update next week but the week after that one I will be back to my regular updating schedule.**

"You get a single scratch on my car, and I will wreck you like a car crash," Rosalie warned Bella as she handed the keys to her Maserati over to the shaking brunette in front of her.

"You want me to drive your car?" Bella was equal parts honored and horrified; honored because hot damn, she was going to be able to drive such a nice car, and horrified because if she fucked it up, then she was going to get fucked up.

"Obviously," Rosalie rolled her eyes at the slowness of Bella. "I need someone to chauffeur me to the party, to and fro. And while I don't want your grubby little hands on my car, I can't actually rent out a personal driver because my parents are stupid. So you'll have to do." At this Rosalie closed the compact mirror, having finished applying her lipstick and putting both in her small bag. She was dressed stunningly for the party, tight red dress, black heels and hair done in curls that swept down her back and over her shoulder. She had a smokey eye look going on and paired with the deep red of her lips it made her face even more attractive than usual. Which was a bad thing for Bella's poor heart. Right now it was beating a bit too hard. So she looked down at the ground, figuring that was a safer option.

"Okay..." Bella weighed the keys in her hand. They suddenly felt more heavy with responsibility not only for the car but also Rosalie's well being.

"Don't feel too honored," Rosalie smirked at the worried expression on the brunette's face. "It's not every day that someone gets to drive my car. Now, get to the car. I don't wanna be _too_ late; it's not fashionable then."

Bella nodded her head, making the mistake of looking at Rosalie and feeling her heart race more quickly. She averted her gaze. "Right."

The two of them left Rosalie's house, well mansion would be a better description, and clambered into the car, Bella the driver's seat and Rosalie the passenger side. Bella felt like she might be overwhelmed today as she rested her hands on the leather steering wheel. Not only had she gotten to see the inside of Rosalie's mansion, which people would no doubt sell a kidney or a pet to get inside, but now she was in charge of her car. Bella let out a steady breath to ease her nerves. Being around Rosalie was decidedly bad for her health.

"Any day now," Rosalie reminded impatiently as she ruffled up the back of her hair a little.

"Right," Bella nodded her head, swallowing nervously and put the key in the car. The whole drive over Bella felt inclined to take things at a snail's pace, not wanting to risk an accident. That of course ended when Rosalie not so kindly reminded her to hurry the fuck up before she made her hurry the fuck up, and Bella increased the speed.

Bella wondered what sort of party it would be and who would be at it. It wasn't like she ever got a chance to party so this would be pretty cool as she would get to see a brief glimpse of another life she wouldn't have. It was probably a party for models or something, or the rich and popular kids in Forks.

It was obvious on which block the house was on, the music pumping from blocks away in the suburbs. It was some electronic beat that Bella utterly hated. Someone was dj-ing, and badly at that, sounds of multiple air horns cutting through the song.

Bella had difficulty pulling up to the grand house, one rivaling Rosalie's in looks, as there were people walking across the street, drinking beers and smoking something. The spacious lawn of the house was just as crowded, with cars filling up the driveway and screams and loud music pouring out through the windows. Disco lights flashed occasionally by.

"When do I come to pick you up?" Bella yelled over the noise but Rosalie was already halfway out the door.

"I'll call you," was her simple reply before she slammed the door shut. Bella watched as she made her way effortlessly across the lawn in her heels. If it had been Bella she would have been flat on her ass by now, but Rosalie was a model so she'd probably be able to run a race in these shoes, and more than likely be able to walk and dance in them. Rosalie stopped when she got to a group of people standing by a beer keg set up on the lawn. Bella squinted her eyes to see who they could be when a car horn honked behind her, jerking her attention back to the street. There were two cars lined up behind her, wanting to get closer to the house so as to drop off their passengers. So she moved down the street, paying close attention not to hit any of the drunk kids walking around.

She got home at around 12 and parked the car in her driveway. Charlie thought she had gone to bed hours ago but she hadn't really, sneaking out of the house through her window and down the drain pipe in order to meet up with Rosalie and drive her to the party. Bella's truck was at Rosalie's place, it sticking out like a sore thumb when Bella drove it there. Rosalie of course had laughed mercilessly at the sight of it and it had been the subject of most of her barbs aimed at Bella for that night as she got ready. Bella had said nothing as she twiddled her thumbs and waited for Rosalie to finish.

Bella got out of her borrowed car right now and went in through the doorway, figuring since her dad was asleep now she could just walk on in rather than climb the drain pipe once more. It was dark inside the house and quiet and Bella let herself drop to her bed softly, not even bothering to turn on the lights. She set her phone on loud so that she would wake when it rang.

Bella didn't even know when she drifted off to sleep, but she knew that the phone's ringing jerked her out of sleep rudely. She bolted up in bed and reached for her phone on her night stand frantically as she rubbed her eyes with her other hand. It was three in the morning.

"Hello?" Bella picked up, her voice low with sleep. There was loud music on the other end of the phone and people screaming and laughing. Rosalie was saying something but Bella couldn't make it out. "What?"

"I said...come pick me up..." Rosalie's voice was heavily slurred. She was no doubt drunk.

"Okay. I'm on my way. Just wait for me outside the house." Rosalie was saying something else but Bella hung up as she probably wouldn't be able to make out what she was saying.

Bella sneaked out of her house and got into the car. When she drove up to the house she saw that a lot of cars had already left and there was garbage strewn all over the lawn, mainly red solo cups. Some stragglers were still walking around, laughing and drinking. Bella made out Rosalie's red dress. She was leaning across one of the trees on the lawn and making out with some guy. Well, that wasn't awkward at all.

Bella felt disgruntled by that image. She knew logically she shouldn't. It's not like just because she had a crush on Rosalie that the other would not make out with anyone else. Bella tapped her thumbs on the wheel, whistling to herself and trying to not look in the direction of the two but she found herself unable to stop. They were really going at it. Did the blonde have any intention of making it back into the car?

Bella didn't have time to be here all night. She needed to go back to bed. It was only a Saturday but still, she liked her sleep. Sucking in an annoyed breath, she honked once and then twice on the horn, the second sound longer. This tore the two apart and they looked a bit disoriented for a bit before realization dawned on Rosalie's face. She waved hastily at the guy and then stumbled over to the car. She plopped down into the seat less than gracefully and slammed the door shut. She reeked of alcohol and her hair was messed up, the curls gone.

"What took you so long?" she slurred, trying to angrily glare at Bella who merely shrugged. She hadn't taken that long surely. She pushed the car forwards as Rosalie sloppily buckled herself in and took to fiddling with the car radio. She turned the volume up loud and Bella cringed at the volume but it didn't seem to bother Rosalie, who took to bopping her head. It looked like she was still in party mode. Bella sighed. It was only a half hour drive. And then she could go home in her own car.

Halfway through the ride, Rosalie got bored of the music and cut it off, the sudden silence almost as painful as the loud music had been to Bella. "Why-why don't...what happened to those clothes you bought?" Rosalie asked all of a sudden as she leaned forward to look at Bella. Bella tried to not shrink back from this motion as the girl took to pulling on the sleeve of the top she was wearing. "You only wore them-hic!-to school once this past week." Bella couldn't tell if Rosalie was mad or not, it hard to tell with her being drunk and all.

"I uh, want to save them for special occasions. Since they look nice," Bella explained, hoping this would stop the girl's further questions. Bella had been raised poor so whenever she had something nice she wanted to cherish it and those new clothes she had bought she surely wasn't going to wear just to school. Rosalie could do such things because she had money but not Bella.

"But you're next to me, and I'm a special occasion!" Rosalie sat back and stretched her hands to the ceiling, letting her fingers run over it.

 _Well, glad to see that her sense of self importance is still intact no matter how drunk she is._

Bella didn't know what else to say so she focused on driving. It was easier now, since there were less cars around this time of night. Rosalie was now opening and closing the car windows. Bella wondered why the blonde hadn't gone to a party with her school friends. Did they not go to the same parties? She wanted to ask, but she didn't know if the blonde would get angry like she had last time when Bella had gone shopping with her and asked her why the others hadn't come along. Determining the pros and cons with asking it, she decided her curiosity was too much.

"So, uh, were your friends at the party?"

"My friends?" Rosalie's head snapped back.

Bella gulped nervously but as she read the expression on the others face all she saw was drunken oblivion. "Uh, you know, Alice and Emmett, Jasper and Edward," she decided to press on.

There was a derisive snort. "Yea, my friends." The way she said it denoted the opposite. "And yea, they were there but I didn't spend much time with them there."

"Oh, okay." So Bella had just found out an interesting tidbit of information. Apparently there was some friendship stuff going on with the popular kids. Hmm, to be expected she supposed. Most of these friendships were based on money and looks anyway and not actual foundations.

"But it was so much fun! You should have gone to the party. Oops." A laugh as Rosalie brought a hand up to her mouth. "I forgot, you're not cool or anything like that." So her bitchiness was also intact while drunk.

Bella shook her head and decided to ignore that comment. "Aww, don't pout," Rosalie poked her finger into Bella's cheek making the girl jump from the contact. "It's cute and you're not supposed to be cute."

 _What the fuck?_ Bella's heart was now doing this weird thing in her chest and she tried to remember how to breathe. Did Rosalie just call her cute? _Cute?_

 _No, she's just drunk, she's saying random things. It doesn't mean anything._

Thankfully Rosalie's mansion was coming up and Bella focused herself on parking the car. "We're here," she announced and Rosalie got out the car. "Thank god, I have got to pee," she said as she stumbled out the car.

Should Bella help her get into the house? The blonde probably didn't deserve help-it was her own fault for getting this drunk. But Bella wouldn't feel right just leaving her be. She could hurt herself going up and down the stairs.

So Bella got out and followed her to the door. Rosalie was fumbling with the keys, trying to find the lock. "Let me help with that," Bella offered and Rosalie snapped her head to the girl. "I don't need your help," she huffed and then turned her back pointedly to the other as she continued to fumble with the keys. Bella crossed her arms and waited for the girl to finish.

"This fucking key. Someone must have changed the locks to my house!" Rosalie grumbled out, getting impatient. She threw the keys to the floor with a huff and went up to the window on the first floor and began tapping on the glass, trying to find some way to open it.

Bella picked up the keys Rosalie had tossed and opened the door. "Rosalie. Rosalie!"

"What? Can't you see I'm busy-oh, the door opened. I knew I must have opened it," Rosalie made her way over to the door and Bella had to hold back a laugh at the other girl's antics. Inside, Rosalie struggled in the hallway to take off her shoes. She would take one off and then stumble a few steps forwards before managing to wretch the other one off, throwing the both of them haphazardly across the entrance hall. Bella shut the door and put the keys in the key bowl. Maybe she could get Rosalie's parents to help her? It would be better because then they could take of Rosalie if she felt ill.

"Rosalie, where are your parents?"

"Traveling. Their not here, like always," she answered bitterly and took a step forward towards the spiraling staircase. She sized it up like it was a monster she would have to fight and conquer.

 _Of course her parents aren't here. She's reinforcing the stereotype of rich kids with issues._

Bella sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Okay. I'm going to help you up the stairs."

"I don't need your help!" Rosalie pushed at Bella's shoulder, trying to force the other away. But in doing so, she unbalanced her already unsteady balance, her arms windmilling around her. Bella grabbed at her wrist and pulled her up right but with too much force forwards and thus they ended up bumping heads together.

"Ouch, fuck. Be gentle," Rosalie hissed, twisting free of Bella's grip.

"Sorry," Bella mumbled, rubbing her hurt head.

"I don't need your help getting up. You probably only want to get into my room and try to seduce me or something!"

"What! No I don't! I already told you just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm trying to get into your pants!"

"Yea right," snorted Rosalie. "Just like guys don't wanna get into my pants!"

Bella let out a frustrated growl. How could she prove that she wasn't trying to do something sketchy? "You're-you're not even wearing pants!" That was the best she could come up with right now, and it was a totally stupid argument. But it was totally too early in the morning to deal with this.

At this Rosalie began to laugh-a genuine laugh, not the type she did to mock others or annoy them. "Oh my god, you're right. I don't have pants on. But a dress." She was laughing so hard she bent over, hands on her knees, the noise reverberating through the quiet of the house. Bella didn't know how to feel about this. She was happy sure- she had made her crush laugh! But Rosalie was drunk. That meant she was only acting this way because of the booze, and so who knew if she was really laughing because what Bella had said was funny.

At last, after she stopped, she straightened out, breathing hard and wiping a tear from her eye. "That was funny. But I remembered I have to pee. And when I come back I better not see you in my house. Got it?" She poked Bella hard in the collarbone.

"Got it."

She had wanted to help Rosalie because she was concerned for the other. She should have someone to look after her. "Just call one of your friends or something to help you if you feel ill."

"I don't need help. Yours or anyone's. I can take care of myself," Rosalie's eyes narrowed in anger before she turned on her heel and went to the bathroom.

Bella took this as her cue to leave and drove her truck back home. By the time she got back it was five in the morning and she quickly changed into her pjs, hoping to fall into a quick slumber. But in her head, Rosalie's words of 'It's cute and you're not supposed to be cute' ran over and over. And Bella knew sleep was going to be hard to come by.

 **A/N: Hmmm, interesting verbal slip up there Rosalie...**


	6. Chapter 6

**A Bad Deal?**

 **Instruments of Harm**

Thankfully it seemed that Rosalie didn't remember much of what had happened at the party. So she couldn't bully Bella over anything. In fact, she had a wicked hangover the next day and had called Bella to come in to take care of her. The brunette had mixed feelings about this. She was elated because she was going to be able to spend time with her crush but worried because their interactions had been less than pleasant ever since Rosalie had gained that information as leverage over Bella. In the end she decided to go, as she might incur Rosalie's wrath by rejecting this. She knew it was going to be a long day, so she brought over her homework so she could do something while she listened to Rosalie groan and moan about how terribly she was feeling.

Bella did her best to make the girl feel better, by bringing her water to drink and giving her Tylenol as well as giving her crackers to help calm her stomach down. Still it was a while before Rosalie felt better and it was six pm at the time, which meant Rosalie was now hungry enough to want food after emptying the contents of her stomach several times.

"Cook me food," she demanded as she came downstairs. She had bags under her eyes and her hair was pulled into a tangled bun, her clothes consisting of sweats. Even sickly looking she still looked better than Bella on a good day.

"What do you want?" Bella asked, scribbling down the last words on her homework assignment.

"I don't know...soup or something," the blonde shrugged. "Just make sure it tastes good. You can cook, can't you?" she asked at the end as if realizing that perhaps that was an option.

"Yes. I can cook meals." Bella nodded her head. She was actually proud of her cooking skills. She made food for both her and Charlie. "But we need ingredients for a soup." When Bella had been looking for snacks for the blonde she found that the kitchen cabinets were lacking, as was the fridge. When was the last time anyone stocked the place?

"Right. I forgot I used up almost everything. Wait here and I'll grab some cash for you." Rosalie disappeared upstairs and came back with a thick wad of cash. She handed the roll over to Bella who marveled momentarily at it; felt the heaviness of the wadded paper in her hand. There must have been a lot of money there and Rosalie was trusting her with this much. "Buy anything you think should be bought."

"Right." Bella nodded her head slowly, shocked the other was giving her this much freedom. But the tired look on Rosalie's face as she plopped down onto the white sofa in the living room was an indication of why this was the case. "I'll be back."

With that Bella got into her car and drove to the nearest supermarket. Inside she found herself wondering where Rosalie's tastes lay in food and what she should get her. In the end she settled on some ingredients for soup and other healthy snacks that the blonde could eat. Then stocked up, she drove back and took to unpacking the groceries and putting them in the right place. Rosalie was still on the couch where she had last been. She was flipping through channels, bored, but she ignored Bella as the girl put the stuff in place, left the remaining money on the counter, and got to work on the soup.

The kitchen in this place was high tech and Bella loved using it. If she had a kitchen like this at her house she could easily make fancier dishes. It was a shame this kitchen here looked highly unused and unloved.

It wasn't until the smell from the soup was wafting up that Rosalie ventured into the kitchen. "That smells good," she commented. It was almost nice until she added: "I'm surprised. I thought it would smell like garbage. Like you do."

Bella's shoulders tensed at that but she didn't reply to that. She instead focused on stirring the soup more violently. Rosalie stood by the counter next to her, chin in hand, watching her every move and Bella felt herself blush under her scrutiny.

"Say, what happened last night?"

"Last night?" Why was Rosalie asking this now? "You went to a party."

"No. What happened after you picked me up? I remember you being in my house. Why was that? I didn't give you permission to do that."

"No...but you were drunk and I wanted to help you up the stairs."

"Hmm. Likely story. You probably wanted to make a move on me," Rosalie hummed.

Bella snapped her head at the blonde at this. "That is not true! Why do you keep insisting on this! How many more times must I explain that not all gay girls hit on any girl they see!" She could feel her face blushing from anger. Rosalie arched a brow and went over to grab a fresh apple from the fruit basket.

"Sure. You're just trying to cover things up," Rosalie kept her brow arched as she looked over the perfect green skin of the apple.

"I am not! You're the one that keeps insisting on it, then that means you must be the one who wants it to happen!" Bella blurted out, annoyed. This caused Rosalie's whole body to tense and she turned slowly on her heel to face Bella, a scary look in her eyes.

"Don't you dare accuse me of that," her voice was a hiss. "I'm not anything like you." Then with a loud crunch she bit into the apple and left the room.

Bella stared at the spot Rosalie had been at before the bubbling of the soup brought her attention back to dinner.

* * *

Dinner was over, the blonde having eaten the soup eagerly and looking more revitalized by it, before demanding Bella to wash the dishes. Bella did so only because the activity relaxed her.

But Rosalie's sudden appearance in the kitchen shocked her, almost making her drop a no doubt very expensive dish. "I need you to do something for me," she started, looking at something on her phone screen before looking up at Bella.

 _Of course you do,_ Bella groaned internally. _Isn't it enough that I already stayed with your grumpy ass this whole day?_ But some part of Bella had enjoyed it. She liked spending time in such a nice house and despite Rosalie being sick most of the day, Bella took comfort in the fact she was spending time alone with her crush.

"This bitch has been talking shit about me, because I made out with her boyfriend last night. Supposedly." Rosalie made air quotes on this.

 _You did._ It probably was that guy that Bella had saw but there was no telling for sure.

"So I'm going to give it to her, and her two friends before they can jump me outside the school. And I need you to get me a police baton so I can beat the crap out of them single handily." At this Bella did drop the cup she had been cleaning and it fell with a plop into the water.

"What? Why do you need that?"

"To beat them up," Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"And you want _me_ to give you one?"

"Yes. Do I need to restate everything? Are you usually this slow?"

"How am I-"

"Your father is a cop. Don't seriously tell me you don't know how to get one," Rosalie scoffed, pointing at Bella.

"But I can't steal it from him-he would notice! I would get in trouble!" Bella protested. This was so wrong.

"I don't care," Rosalie shrugged. "You either get me the baton or your dad is about to find out something new and unpleasant about his daughter."

The threat hung in the air making it hard for Bella to breath. She grasped the sink edge with soaped up hands and took deep breathes as the water ran. How was she going to pull this off? It was insane!

"I need it by tomorrow. So come up with a way to get it." With that Rosalie left.

* * *

The whole rest of Sunday night Bella fretted over the issue of bringing a police baton to school. How the hell was she going to be able to do it? Her father wore it to work each day, she couldn't just take it. Could she ask him for one? No, that wouldn't go over well. He would want to know why she needed one. And then what would she say? She couldn't simply be like, I need one because this girl I'm crushing on asked me for one. No, that wouldn't go well at all.

Unless...she said it was for some school project or something. Hmm...could that possibly work? Well it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Dad?" Bella asked tentatively as she ventured into the living room where her dad was watching a football game, cold beer in hand.

"Hmm, what is it sweetie?" he asked, half his attention on the game.

"I, well, I was just wondering, if you could help me out with something," she stammered, wringing her hands nervously.

"With what?"

Bella took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. "Oh, you know. For a school project. Nothing serious."

"And what about it?"

"I...kinda," Bella took a pause here to draw in a breath. "I need your police baton for it."

There was a beat of silence, in which Bella chewed on her bottom lip out of nerves. She wasn't sure if Charlie had even heard her, but he slowly turned around in his chair, quizzical look on his eyes and full attention on her. "My baton?"

"Yes...it's you know, a parent day thing. You know, when you come into school and talk about what your parents do. That kinda stuff." Bella shook her head up and down vigorously to make her father more convinced with her words.

"Do high schools still do that?"

"Apparently so," Bella chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head as she waited for him to say something else.

Charlie frowned, contemplating. Then: "I guess it's alright. It's not like I use it everyday. You only need for tomorrow right?"

"Yes. Yes. Definitely. And I'll take good care of it," Bella sighed out, feeling some tension leave her. She was almost there! She almost had his permission.

"You can take it on your way out to school tomorrow. But I want it back by tomorrow evening."

"Yes. You got it dad. Thanks. Thanks so much," Bella rushed over to hug her father. He had no idea how much he had helped Bella out by saying yes. He had essentially saved her reputation.

"No problem kid," Charlie chuckled as he patted her on the back.

* * *

But when Bella went to school with the police baton wrapped securely in a cloth in her bookbag, she felt dirty. Really dirty. Rosalie was going to use it to beat up some poor innocent girls- well, maybe not entirely innocent- and the idea didn't sit well with Bella. It was making her feel a bit queasy. Because Bella was going to support an act of violence.

The whole school day this rested heavily on her head. She couldn't concentrate on her school work because of this, and Angela noticed. She was always the first to notice if anything was wrong with Bella.

"Are you alright? You look pale. Paler than usual," she asked kindly, placing a hand on Bella's shoulder.

"I'm fine. Just tired," Bella muttered out, avoiding her friend's eyes before hurrying off and away. She couldn't tell any of her friends what was going on. It wouldn't be fair to get them involved. This was Bella's problem.

Lunch time Bella went out to get Rosalie's lunch as usual. But when she approached the picnic table that the popular kids always had lunch at, Rosalie wasn't there.

"She said to leave her lunch here and to meet her out back," Alice said as she watched Bella timidly approach them. "And to bring the thing she told you to bring."

"Oh, okay," the words felt difficult to say because of Bella's dry throat. She went back inside the school, moved to her locker with leaden legs, swinging open the locker with numb fingers. She grabbed her bag and rushed off, her palms sweating.

She found the pretty blonde out by the alley way behind the school, by the dumpsters. It was the unanimously decided upon spot for doing drugs, smoking, drinking, or for settling fights.

"Took you long enough," Rosalie growled out, eyeing the nervous brunette, who almost seemed scared to enter the alleyway. "What are you waiting for. Come here. I'm not going to be beating you up."

Bella nodded her head and walked up to Rosalie to give her the bag. The blonde checked what was inside and her smile spread. "Good. They'll never see it coming. You can go now," she dismissed Bella.

Bella nodded her head wordlessly and left the alleyway, the stench of rotting food and smoke clearing from her nose. She went into the lunch cafeteria where the chatter of loud student's filled her ears. Casually she tried to go about her day, buying some food and settling down with her friends at their lunch table.

"Nice to see you," Jessica said nastily. "Off busy doing something else, some other project of yours? Or still catering to Rosalie's-"

"Jessica, cut it out," Lauren reminded her, not in a gentle tone of voice.

"What? I'm just concerned for her."

"You don't have to be rude about it," Lauren pointed out, shooting the other girl a glare. "There's other ways to be nice."

Bella ignored the two of them, trying to force some food down her throat. But it didn't taste right, and the happy chatter of the student populace around her was so different from how she felt internally that it was irritating her. She needed to leave. Every minute that passed she imagined those three girls who had trash talked Rosalie getting more and more pummeled. She needed to stop Rosalie from using that baton. She couldn't allow the blonde to knowingly hurt someone, especially with a device Bella had brought.

"Bella?" Mike questioned as he saw the brunette get up.

"See, now you've made her leave," Lauren hissed at Jessica who only snorted.

"Bella, wait!" Angela made to grab for her wrist but Bella jerked free. "I need to go. I don't feel so well." Then she rushed out the cafeteria doors. Her feet carried her outside to the alleyway where she could hear grunts of pain.

 _Oh god, I hope I'm not too late,_ Bella prayed.

"And if I catch you talking shit about me once more, then I'll do way worse than this. Do I make myself clear?" Rosalie's voice was savage and full of unbridled rage. The blonde was standing over a fallen form. Two girls were huddled next to the fallen figure, consoling her. The baton in Rosalie's hand was coated in something sticky and Bella swallowed the bile that rose in her throat.

It looked like she was too late, but that didn't mean she still couldn't try.

"Rosalie, stop!" she cried out in panic as she watched the blonde raise the baton to swing it down once more. The blonde jerked her head in the brunette's direction. "Bella?"

"You've already taught them their lesson. You don't need to continue this. Their already scared of you," Bella pleaded as she approached the blonde, but wary for distance, not trying to get into striking range of the baton.

Rosalie snorted at this. "You don't get to tell me what to do."

"Someone needs to tell you when you go too far. If someone doesn't then one of these days you may find yourself taking it a step too far and then, then you'll be in real trouble." Bella's voice was a whisper at this. Rosalie merely rolled her eyes, clearly not thinking of the consequences that entailed if she let her anger go too far.

"Don't tell me what to do." Then Rosalie turned back to the three girls. Bella knew the blonde was still going to hit them. She had to stop it. She owned the girls this much for giving the blonde such a weapon.

"Stop!" Bella launched herself at the blonde's arm, using her full body weight to throw her off. Rosalie stumbled under the attack. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "Get off of me."

"No! I won't let you do this. I can't stand people getting hurt!" She struggled against the blonde. But Rosalie was stronger than her and she was quickly losing her grip. "Go!" Bella urged the three girls and they nodded their heads, picking up the injured girl and supporting her by the shoulders as they struggled away.

"You bitch!" Rosalie cried out, throwing Bella to the dirty concrete. "How could you fucking do this to me! Mind your fucking business!"

"I was doing this in your interest," Bella lied, the prevarication coming quickly to her now that she was alone and Rosalie had directed her anger on her.

"My interest?" she slide the baton under Bella's quivering chin, raising it up so their eyes could meet. Frightened brown against pissed off hazel.

"You could get in serious trouble. Batons can cause severe damage and if you had gone too far then-" Bella knew she was blabbering but she couldn't stop it.

"Maybe I should use this baton on you too, to make up for you cutting my fun short. It'd be funny, wouldn't it. You gave me the baton and now you'll get beaten up by it."

"Don't do it," Bella pleaded in a quiet voice. "I was only trying to help you." And those poor girls. _Please, I have a crush on you. I don't want you to act despicably._

Bella really didn't want Rosalie to start physically bullying her. Then things would get complicated. If things remained the way they were now then perhaps Bella could live through the rest of her three years of high school. But once Rosalie punched Bella, things would be different.

"You did this to help me?" Rosalie's voice contained a trace of surprise in it. Her eyes clouded over momentarily. Whatever emotion that she was feeling was well guarded. Bella wished she could tell what was going through the blonde's head. Would she think Bella was lying, or mocking her? Why did she almost sound sad at the words Bella had uttered? Did she think Bella was pitying her?

Rosalie crouched down so she was on eye level with Bella. Her features were marred by cool anger and her jaw worked as she turned over thoughts in her head. "I suppose they did learn their lesson. They only tried to slander me, there were worse things they could do. But next time you interrupt me, it's your ass on the line." Then Rosalie got up and tossed the baton to the side. "I'm hungry. All that made me work up an appetite. You better have gotten all that I ordered you to." The blonde stretched as she walked away, hands over her head.

"I'm glad you can still eat," Bella breathed out bitterly. Her appetite was ruined for her now. She got up on shaky feet, feeling like she had just escaped a sound beating by the skin of her teeth, and brushed the dust off her jeans bottom. Then she grabbed the baton and quickly wiped at it with the papers she had in her bag. The marks came off as red and she swallowed down a lump that rose in her throat. Then done, she zipped the baton back in her bag and decided it was time to go home. She didn't think she could stand to go back to school and act like nothing had happened.

 **A/N: So finally, Bella is showing even more backbone when it comes to standing up to Rosalie. But will it be enough? Will she be able to change the notorious blonde's ways?**


	7. Chapter 7

**A Bad Deal?**

 **The Chariot of Hell**

The screech of tires. The loud whine of the motor. The excited cries of the black Sedan's passengers as they rounded a sharp turn, with the exception of one frightened and nervous brunette.

"Come on Bells, don't be such a grump!" Alice laughed as she shoved Bella's shoulder, causing the girl to bump into Jasper. She was currently sandwiched between him and Alice in the back seat. "Rosie bought you on this little excursion. You should make the most of it. It's not everyday we have someone other than us on these trips."

"Yea, sure," Bella mumbled out, not at all in the mood for this. It was currently two in the morning and for some inexplicable reason, the cool kids of Fork high thought now would be a good idea to drive around town toilet papering people's houses. It was so juvenile and irresponsible and Bella kept fretting over what would happen to her if they got caught. Her father would hear about it and then she'd be in so much trouble!

She wanted no part in this. Why Rosalie had even dragged her out for this was beyond her. What would it accomplish? To show how cool her friend group was? Which they totally weren't if they did such childish things. Maybe Rosalie wanted to show Bella that she did do things with her friends? Apparently Bella had touched a nerve when she had accidentally blurted out that Rosalie didn't seem to hang out with her friends a lot.

 _Ugh, I don't know,_ Bella sighed to herself. She'd never understand the mind of popular kids.

"You don't sound very convincing," Alice said, poking Bella painfully in the side. "Rosie!" she called out to the front of the car, where Rosalie was seated in the passenger seat, Emmett the one who was driving the car, haphazardly swerving between lanes and disregarding stop signs and lights. "Bella's being a downer. Let's give her some paper. Maybe it'll make her get into a better mood."

"No, I don't want to-" But Bella's protests were cut off by a roll of paper hitting her in the nose. Bella fumbled to catch it before it fell to the floor.

"You're helping us do the next house," Jasper smiled at her as Alice slung an arm around the brunette's shoulders.

"No, it's fine. You guys do it, it's clearly your tradition."

"No way! Rosie invited you over, so clearly she thinks you should be doing this," Alice shot Rosalie a look that was imbued with some sort of secondary meaning, one that flew over Bella's head because she had no context to decipher it with.

It upset Rosalie because she frowned. But she didn't say anything else.

"Here. This house. Victor was being an ass, and cramping up my style as I was trying to hit on this girl at the party," Emmett braked the car in front of a nice house with a trim lawn and willow tree in front.

Victor must have been some guy on the football team, as Emmett was a football player. "Got it," Jasper nodded his head. "No one messes with your flow." They all clambered out except for Emmett who had to stay in the car in case they needed to make a quick get away.

Bella's mouth felt dry as she followed after them. They were all dressed in black, and sneaking across the lawn, giggling quietly to themselves. "Jasper, Alice and I will get the house. You do the tree," Rosalie instructed.

"Sure," Bella nodded her head, sort of glad she didn't have to do the house. Still, she really didn't want to disrespect someone's property so it was with shaking arms that she threw the roll of toilet paper over the tree branches, looping it around. It was a hard job, her aim pretty much sucking and leaving her to have to redo it multiple times in order to get some sort of mess going.

"Go go," came Jasper's urged whisper as he and his friends retreated from the house to go back into the car. Bella followed after them, grabbing the remains of her roll. Jasper and Alice dove into the back seat first, Bella barely managing to make it in as Emmett's wheels were already spinning.

Bella closed the car door as he speed off, leaving tire tracks on the road.

"That was fun. Now it's time for house number five. Whose is it?" Rosalie asked.

"I think it's Meg's house," Jasper answered.

"That whore?" Alice wrinkled up her nose. "The one who tried to spread the rumor that she and Eddy had something going on?"

"Yea, her," Emmett confirmed. He tapped his thumbs on the car wheel. "Too bad Eddy's out sick though. He would have loved to do her house. Maybe we should skip it out of courtesy for him?"

"Hmm, maybe," Alice tapped her chin with a slender finger.

"We have a couple more houses left so I'm sure that we can put Meg's house off," Jasper suggested.

"Skipping Meg's house it is then," Emmett affirmed.

 _There's more?_ Bella internally whined. _I thought doing four houses would be enough. How many more do they intend to do?_ Well, at least it explained why the houses in Fork's would suddenly seem to be toilet papered over night. She wondered if anyone knew it was them.

"You know Bella, you can't tell anyone about this," Alice chimed in, interrupting Bella's thoughts.

"Oh, I wouldn't think of doing that," Bella assured, serious on all accounts. She knew from experience to keep her mouth shut about such things.

"Really?" Alice raised a disbelieving brow.

Bella didn't like the dark look in Alice's eyes. Bella unconsciously slunk closer to the car door, letting her back lean on it. "Yes," she breathed out as Alice peered closer to her.

"Because if you did even entertain thoughts of doing such a thing-" Alice leaned in and pressed something behind Bella's back and suddenly the brunette was aware that she was falling backwards.

"Shit!" She cried out as her hands scrabbled to make purchase on something, the edge of the car door, anything. Alice's hand snaked out and grabbed the front of her shirt, catching her before she fell out the car.

The wind whipped around Bella's head, her brown locks spreading out around her as her breath came in gasped breaths. She was painfully aware of how close the cement was to her face and how it blurred past her.

"Ah, ah," she uttered out, the only thing she was capable of in this moment, fear pumping through her veins.

"-we'd hurt you. Bad." Alice smiled down at Bella, yelling over the wind. "So don't think about it. Do you hear me?" Alice shook Bella by the front of her shirt and Bella felt herself slip even further down. She flailed her hands around to try and pull herself up but she couldn't.

"I promise. I promise I won't tell anyone!" Bella shrieked out.

"Good girl," Alice smiled and pulled Bella back up inch by slow inch. When Bella was finally back in her seat, Alice closed the door. Bella immediately clicked her seat belt into place, not willing to take another chance.

Alice chuckled at this. "Remember to keep your promise. If you don't people will know how involved in this you were. Then what would daddy say?" Alice hummed, patting down some stray hairs from Bella's face in a show of gentle care.

"Alice," Rosalie growled from the front seat. Her eyes looked black in the rear view mirror reflection. "If you break my toy-"

"I won't. We're best friends now, aren't we Bella?" Alice tugged Bella close to her, cheek to cheek. Alice was smiling innocently while Bella couldn't even say anything, still too shook by what had happened. She was vaguely aware she was shaking uncontrollably.

Rosalie scoffed but turned to looking out the window.

"Next stop, coming up," Emmett announced as he rounded the car up a street sidewalk.

This pattern continued for the next four houses they hit up. They'd sneak out, toilet paper the house, the garden, even the cars if there were some out on the driveway, and then rush back into the car. Bella made sure to always click in her seat-belt each time, not wanting to risk Alice going psycho on her again. Who knew that the delicate looking girl could be scary.

One time, as a joke, they had moved the car forward each time Bella had reached for the door handle. It was hilarious to them but annoying to her. Especially when they made her run a full block just to catch up to them, the car staying a tantalizingly couple of feet away. When she had finally clambered into the car, sweaty and out of breath, she had been greeted to a chorus of laughs which only made her fume harder, but which she could do nothing about.

When five in the morning hit, Rosalie told Bella that it was ultimately time to return her home. Bella couldn't be happier. Finally this stupid night would be over and she could get some much needed sleep. But imagine to her surprise that when she got out of the car so did everyone else, hands holding rolls of the white gauzy paper.

"Last house, Bells," Alice tossed Bella the paper roll.

"What?" Bella swallowed hard, looking at the paper in her hands like it was something strange and foreign.

"She's a bit slow," Rosalie explained to Alice. "She'll need you to spell it all out."

"We're toilet papering your house. And you're helping us," Emmett told Bella and watched as the girl's face took on a horrified expression. Bella took a step back, then two.

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, we are," Jasper smiled cruelly. "Now do it. Before daddy dearest wakes up."

Bella closed her eyes as she gathered the resolve to go through with this absurdity. _Like ripping off a bandage. The sooner I do this, the sooner it'll be over._

Bella opened her eyes and strode forward, taking the initiative and being the first one to throw the paper roll over her house.

"Ooo," Emmett said in happy surprise. "Looks like someone is beginning to like this." He clasped Rosalie on her shoulder hard. "You don't think you'll let me borrow her sometime? I got some things I could use help with."

"She's not yours," Rosalie brusquely stated, brushing his hand off and striding forwards to join Bella in throwing paper.

Emmett smiled before whispering to himself. "How cute. It seems Rosalie is getting a bit territorial."

The teens all managed to completely cover Bella's house. Bella found it slightly ironic. A form of karma. This was her payback for ruining other people's property. "Alright. I'm done," Bella said through gritted teeth, tossing the cardboard roll to the ground. "I'm going to bed now." Then she entered the house and closed the door on the horrible night, hoping that when she woke up it would all be over.

 **A/N: For some reason I'm always inclined to making Alice a bitch in Rosella stories. Don't know why; its just the flow of how the story goes. Additionally I think there's only a handful of chapters left of Rose being a bitch before she and Bella start getting along.  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**A Bad Deal?**

 **Playing Hooky**

"Today we're going to go around town and get a bit of shopping done," Rosalie said as she went down some mental checklist. "First, groceries. Emmett and Edward-those _fuckers_ \- came over to my house and ate all my good food, so I need more. Then, more toilet paper for our next TP night run. Then some paint. And lastly, a little artistic trip," Rosalie smiled to herself at the last thing, privy to information that only she knew, and thus keeping Bella out of the loop.

"Was it really necessary to bring me along?" Bella couldn't help but whine. "I'm missing school for this."

Rosalie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "As if you were learning anything useful in class anyways."

"But I don't wanna play hooky," Bella whined, bringing the bag on her lap closer to her so she could rest her chin on it.

" _But I don't wanna play hooky_ ," Rosalie mocked in a higher register. "That's what you sound like. Like a little baby. Now shut up. You're helping me with this otherwise the whole school is going to know that not only did you toilet paper people's homes, smuggle a police baton out from your father, but that you also have a sordid crush on your best friend."

 _So she's making me do these things just so she can have more things to hang over my head. I should have seen this coming. Instead I played right into her hand. Getting out of this will be nigh near impossible now. I'll just have to play it safe. I wonder if she's going to make me do something I'll regret today as well._

"Rosalie, you know if you keep making me play hooky then Charlie's gonna start asking questions. And he's gonna eventually link these actions back to you whether I tell him or not. I know you think you're untouchable because you're a model and stuff but money won't help you stay out of trouble forever." Bella's rationalization sounded weak even to her ears. It made Rosalie laugh.

"I'm not afraid of the law, and certainly not of your father."

"Well, you should be," Bella mumbled under her breath. She shifted down further in the car seat. Rosalie was turning the car into the parking lot of a grocery store.

"I'm not in the mood to listen to your whining. If this all bothers you so much, go ahead and snitch on me. But remember I'll tell your dad everything you've done as well," Rosalie said as she exited the car. Bella left after her, trailing behind sadly. There was no reasoning with the blonde right now.

The two of them shopped at the store, Bella making sure to stay behind the usual three foot distance that Rosalie insisted on her doing. Even though Bella had had her arm twisted on the matter of wearing those new clothes she had been forced to buy, Rosalie's claims on letting herself be more comfortable with being seen with the brunette was not upheld. The blonde still demanded distance between them. Which Bella tried to not let bother her. But it was actually more hurtful than if Rosalie had just straight up called her ugly. Wasn't it usually the case that pretty girls would want to be surrounded by plain girls so as to look even prettier?

Bella shook her head. She was overthinking things again, and she really didn't want to. So she focused on buying some fresh ingredients for the blonde's pantry.

When they finished Rosalie paid and they packed the groceries into the trunk of the Maserati. "Now we're gonna get TP and some paint," Rosalie announced as they pulled out and drove a short distance to the home improvement store.

Inside the store, Rosalie looked out of place, too well put together and shiny for the dusty shelves full of bolts and nuts and wood chips. Yet she moved around it with familiarity and got the stuff she needed, Bella just trailing behind her like a ghost. She barely paid attention to the purchases, watching the blonde and how her hair moved with her. Rosalie's hair was largely what made the whole appeal of her; what completed the package. It was soft, and luscious and wavy without being too full of body. It was just right and always styled perfectly.

If it wasn't in a messy bun, or in waves down her shoulders then it was in a high ponytail or in plaited braids. Bella marveled at how it would feel to touch her hair. Maybe one day the blonde would order her to braid her hair or something, that way Bella would have a reason to touch those lovely locks. But that was never going to happen. Bella could barely tame her own brown locks. The blonde was way skilled with doing her own hair. Bella would only be a hindrance and cramp her style.

Bella regretted not paying attention to the purchases because it turned out that paint was going to be used for their 'little art project'.

Bella held the spray paint can in between her fingers like it would bite her any moment. "Rosalie, I don't understand why we're going to be spray painting the building wall. What's the point?"

Rosalie didn't seem happy at Bella's complaining. "Stop asking questions and just do it."

"Why are you making me do these things? I don't understand," Bella couldn't hold her confusion back anymore. Why was the blonde making her do these sorts of things, like toilet papering people's homes and spray painting walls. Was she trying to corrupt her?

"You said you wanted to help me."

"What?"

"Don't you remember? That day with the baton. You said you stopped me because you were looking out for me. Trying to help me."

"Oh." Leave it to Rosalie to take Bella's words and twist them out of proportion. "I did want to help you. I do want to help," Bella amended. She did wanna help Rosalie stop being so unnecessarily cruel and mean. The blonde didn't have to be like this. Or maybe Bella only thought this because of her crush. That because of it, she wanted Rosalie to be a better person but maybe the blonde really couldn't be? Bella knew it was foolish to hold hope that Rosalie would one day wake up and realize she didn't want to be like this; that she didn't wanna treat Bella like this. That she actually liked Bella-and there Bella went again, fantasizing about things that were unrealistic.

"Then help me by doing what I ask you to do," Rosalie said, holding up another can of paint, this one red.

 _Ask, more like demand._ Bella held back the snort that wanted to escape and let out a sigh instead. She couldn't believe it, but here she was about to vandalize someone's property again because of Rosalie. She raised the spray can. "I can't really do...good art," she said in a last ditch effort to stop this from happening.

"Quality doesn't matter. Just writing stuff down." Rosalie then shook the can and started to get to work.

Bella shook her head. What fun did Rosalie even get from this? Bella's finger trembled on the nozzle. "Why can't you do something else for fun?" was her quiet question and Bella half hoped Rosalie hadn't heard it only because she was afraid of the answer.

"Because I'm bored and this is what I wanna do." The answer arrived a half second later. _Typical rich kid answer. Doing stuff just because they can. Having no respect for the things of others._

"But why lower yourself to such base acts," Bella curled up her lip. She couldn't believe she was saying these words, but it just didn't sit right with her. Bored? Rosalie was doing this out of boredom? Not even because she was angry at the person who owned this building? At least Bella could get behind the reasoning behind doing something out of anger or sadness or spite. But boredom?

 _"I'm bored," drawled a voice that held a British tinge to it. Red hair obscured Bella's vision from her spot on the floor where she was curled up. "And you just so happened to be walking past..." A shrug at those words, as if they made any sense. "So this happened." A nudge with a toe, Bella whimpering in pain as her bruised ribs were touched._

"You're better than that," Bella whispered as she let the memories leave her. "You can do other things-"

"You don't know anything!" Came Rosalie's sudden angry hiss as she grabbed Bella by the front of her shirt and brought their faces close together. "So don't presume you know me. And don't tell me what I should or shouldn't do." The blonde's breath billowed over Bella's face and she swallowed at the tight grip on her. She licked her lips, venturing to ask this next question- Rosalie was already mad with her so what did it matter if she made her even more mad. "So why don't you tell me?"

Rosalie's lips curled up in a sneer before her face relaxed and she let go of Bella's shirt, shoving her back. The brunette stumbled to regain her balance.

"Mind your own damn business. All you need to worry about is pleasing me, and following my orders." Rosalie turned back to the wall. "I'd get started on that wall if I were you. We won't be leaving until it's done, every inch covered in paint."

Bella swallowed hard and took to spraying the wall, the green paint covering the bricks. And as the spirals and lines she painted unfurled, she couldn't feel like she was slowly spiraling down in deeper and deeper into the blonde's unrelenting world.

 **A/N: What is Rosalie playing at? And Bella's comeback starts next chapter, I believe.  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**A Bad Deal?**

 **The Devil Plays Cupid**

Bella licked her lips nervously and cast furtive glances down the hall. It was mainly empty, with only a few students down the far end of the hall due to the early morning. Then, sure that no one would see her, she quickly walked over to the targeted locker and slipped in a thin piece of paper in through the vents, never pausing in her stride. Done, she let out a breath of relief.

This situation had been going on for the past two weeks ever since Rosalie and Bella had spray painted several houses in broad day light, earning a newspaper article about the vandalism. Bella had clutched the article between sweaty fingers, reading to see if anything incriminating about her had been written there, but thankfully no one had any clue as to who had done it.

The town had been in uproar over this, especially given how several houses had been toilet papered not too many nights ago. Charlie had woken the next morning to the white paper surrounding his house, and while he and Bella tore them down, he had ranted about who had done this; listing motives and possible suspects. He had even questioned Bella if she knew anything about this. But she had merely shook her head no, her lips thin and tight. She didn't want her father to suspect that she was being bullied, as he had a faint idea of what had happened in Phoenix but not the full disclosure.

Bella knew it was only a matter of time before eventually someone would catch on to who really was doing these attacks and Bella would find herself smack dab right in the middle of it thanks to a certain blonde. And now the blonde's latest schemes in making Bella suffer was to make her leave loves notes in Angela's locker, since Rosalie still thought Bella liked her best friend.

Bella had nearly cried when she had heard of what Rosalie had planned for her, but there was nothing she could do about it but carry it out. Luckily all that it required was for Bella to leave unsigned notes in the locker for the past two weeks. The sappier and more sexual, the better.

Bella had been uncomfortable, mortified even, writing them down. This was her friend after all! And she most definitely didn't feel that way about her. Yet Rosalie was insisted. She wanted raunchy notes. Notes that would make Angela squirm. Notes that could be technically taken as sexual harassment given their content. And the blonde wanted to read them over before she approved them and had Bella leave them in Angela's locker.

Bella hated this, but she couldn't do much in the way of outright denying Rosalie this. She could do something though. Something that could make the blonde uncomfortable. So she had taken to pretending she was writing love notes to the blonde and in this way poured out all her unexpressed emotions. Rosalie had been impressed by the intensity of the letters, and not unnerved like Bella had hoped she would be. Although perhaps a part of Bella was happy that Rosalie wasn't disgusted by the words that Bella had written under the guise of them being for Angela.

"Whoa, I didn't know you had such dirty thoughts," Rosalie had smirked, bringing her mouth closer to Bella's ear at this. The two of them were sitting in the back of the school library, side to side on the bean bag chairs. The closeness of Rosalie's lips made Bella shiver. "It almost makes me jealous to hear you worshiping someone like this."

Huh? Jealous? Rosalie was jealous of Angela?

"Because you should be worried 24/7 about not pissing me off, and should be thinking of how best to cater to my needs."

Oh, yup. That made more sense.

"But seeing you write this is so amusing. I feel like I know all your dirty little secrets." Rosalie mussed as she pulled away, snatching the written letter from Bella's hands and glancing it over.

"The way I lick a path from your collarbone down the valley of your pert breasts, tasting every inch of your smooth skin..." Rosalie snickered as she cut off the line there. "It would be a big shame if Angela were to find out these notes came from her best friend."

A flash of panic hit Bella hard in the stomach. She made a motion to grab for the paper before she could even think it. "No! Don't."

"Oh, would someone not like that?" Rosalie asked coyly, shifting her body and the paper just out of reach.

"No, I wouldn't. I'm already way out of my comfort zone by you asking me to do this. I don't need any more trouble," Bella couldn't help but whine out. Really, she was getting so tired of this. It seemed unlike Victoria who favored physical torment, Rosalie liked to cause mental and emotional anguish.

"Ah, if you put it like that...maybe if you beg nicely, on your knees, groveling before me." Rosalie tapped her chin mischievously and the glimmer in her eyes was one Bella did not like. "I won't tell anyone about it. Although really. It's not good for you to keep such things in. The sooner Angela knows the sooner we can get to having your heart break!"

"I thought you were going to help me get the girl?" Bella asked, not really caring if she got the girl, but Rosalie had so far being parading this newest scheme of hers as a way to get Bella a girl.

"Oh please," Rosalie scoffed. "Angela is as straight as they come. She's going to say no. And it will be amusing to see your dirty little secrets air, only for her to be horrified that it was you the whole time that was sending her these notes. Not only will your heart break but so will the friendship between the two of you. And then you'll be completely friendless."

"You are sick and cruel," Bella spat out, rising to her feet, her hands in fists. "I can't believe I-" _have a crush on a person like you!_ Bella almost finished, but she couldn't. That slip up would end her for sure. She felt her face was red with anger, that's how much Rosalie had succeeded in pissing her off right now. "You know what. I don't care. I'm going to tell Angela myself what I've been doing. And I don't care if she hates my afterwards but at least I'll tell her before you get a chance to do it. I'll take away all the fun!"

At this Rosalie's haughty attitude dropped and she was suddenly serious. But she wasn't saying anything as Bella ranted on. "I bet you've never even felt love. Or understood the concept of love. One shouldn't mess with such things. It's sacred. And precious. But a heartless bitch like you wouldn't understand."

Rosalie slowly and quietly got up, standing close to Bella, hovering over her with her additional height and making good use of those five inches she had on Bella to be intimidating. But Bella didn't back away from the scary look in her eyes.

"Love?" Rosalie spat the word out, her eyes dark and dangerous. "You are stupid for believing such things exist. Love is dumb. Love is useless. Is it blinding and dangerous. There is no such things as pure love; as true love. There is no such thing as someone loving someone else truly because people only love others for their own benefit. Love is selfish."

Rosalie's chest was heaving at the end of this. Clearly it was a topic she was very touchy about and Bella had just hit it on the head with all the force of a missile. "Then I feel sorry for you," Bella said. What she had meant to be a scathing and snide comment at first, once she had said it she realized in part she really did feel sorry for the blonde. What had made her despise love like this? A love damaged rich girl with attitude problems. Of course that had to be added on to the being known as Rosalie.

"Because as long as you can never love anyone, no one can truly love you." Then Bella snatched the note she had written out of Rosalie's lax grip and left the flabbergasted blonde behind in the library. And still fueled by the anger in her veins that served as her confidence, she decided to go find her friend. She knew the girl had after school art club.

Finding the tan girl in the art room, she stuffed the note in her back pocket. Oh boy, this was going to be a lot to explain, but Bella figured she owned it to the girl. The situation had escalated. If it had been only Bella that Rosalie's actions had been hurting then Bella would have left it. But this was affecting Angela now. Bella could see how distraught the girl was. She was jumpy, and almost as if scared by the notes. Bella had to amend that.

"Angela. Can we talk?"

"Uh, sure, Bella," Angela seemed a bit thrown off by Bella's appearance. She looked up from the watercolor she had been working on. "What's wrong?" she asked when she noted Bella's pale face and the sweaty pallor of it.

"Let's go outside," was Bella's response. "It's a long story."

 **A/N: Baby steps Bella. Rosalie is not happy at all by Bella's little outburst.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A Bad Deal?**

 **The Truth Hurts, But Angels Help**

 **A/N: Finally Bella confesses to Angela what's going on. Stage one of getting back at the blonde has commenced.**

Angela's horrified face was expected when Bella finally confessed to writing those love notes as part of Rosalie's sick ploy to bully the brunette. What Bella hadn't expected was the compassion and understanding in her friend's eyes.

"Oh, Bella. I never knew she was making you do such horrid things," Angela had immediately pulled the shaking Bella into a hug and once in her hold, Bella felt her anger and walls melt away and suddenly she was crying. It felt so good that Angela didn't reject her. Didn't turn away in disgust, and Bella hadn't known how much she needed to hear Angela's cooed reassuring, and to feel her warm hold around her shoulders.

"I'm so, so, sorry," Bella blubbered out, clinging onto her friend, all her annoyance at being subjugated to the blonde's demands pouring out of her. "I never meant to do this to you."

"It's okay. It's okay," Angela soothed, smoothing down Bella's hair. She pulled away to give her friend a wry smile. "It's going to be okay. Just talk to me next time. I'm your friend and I will stand up for you. God." At this she pulled Bella close to her once more, the brunette burrowing her tear stained face into the crook of her friend's neck. "I can't believe she made you do all that. You didn't even do anything to her!"

Once Bella had started to tell Angela about the notes, the rest had spilled out of her. How Rosalie made her vandalize the houses. How she made her get her lunch. Everyday. How she made her get a baton to hurt others. How she made Bella get detention with her. The only thing she had left out was the gay part. There was no way Bella was ready to be out with that yet.

Surely then Angela would turn away in disgust. Then those notes Bella had been forced to leave in her locker would take on a new meaning.

"No, I didn't," Bella confirmed. "I just don't want this to go on. I wanna stop it. But I don't know how. If I speak out against her she'll tell everyone it was me who did the graffiti, me who TP'ed the properties. I'm so stupid. I should have quit this a long time ago when she still had nothing on me-"

"Bella, shush. This isn't any of your fault. And I will not listen to you self deprecate. I'm here. I'm going to help you."

Angela rubbed Bella's back in circle, helping the crying girl calm down. "Thank you," Bella squeaked out at last, detangling herself from her friend. "But I don't want you to get in trouble for being involved in this. Thanks for hearing me out."

"What?" Angela's mouth did a funny little shape. "You think you can just tell me all this and expect me not to get involved?" Now it sounded like Angela was getting mad at Bella. Bella winced.

"I already told you I don't want to get you in trouble with Rosalie. Who knows what she'll make you do. I don't want you to suffer just because you're my friend."

"Bella." Angela reached for the brunette's hands, clutching them warmly between hers. "You won't be putting me out by asking me for help. I want to help. I want to do this for you. And not just because out of friendship obligation. But because I like you as a person. And because I care about you." Angela's eyes were warm and sincere and Bella felt herself blush lightly at those words.

"Thanks. But-"

"I swear Bella!" Angela said with a bit of exasperation. "If you are going to say what I think you're going to, then I don't wanna hear it!"

Bella nodded her head shyly. "Okay."

"Good." Angela squeezed Bella's hand before dropping them. "We are not done with this topic. We're going to find a way to get Rosalie to stop bullying you. Now I have to get back to club before people start wondering about me." With a kind wave and lingering gaze to check if Bella was okay with this, Angela went back into the classroom. Bella let out a sigh and let her back hit the hallway wall, sliding down to her haunches.

The whole talk had been so exhausting for her. But it felt good. Good to let it all out. She had beat Rosalie at her own game. Now it was one less thing Rosalie could hang over her head. She wondered...maybe if she confessed to the vandalism then she would be taking away more ammunition from Rosalie.

Bella shivered at that thought. That would be something harder to confess to. Something larger than just leaving notes in a locker. Because this had affected more than one person. It had even made it into the news. Bella worked at her lower lip. What to do?

A chirp announced that she had a text message. She pulled out her phone and found that Rosalie had texted her. Cold dread filled her bones as she recalled how pissed off Rosalie had been when Bella had left her in the library. With shaking fingers she unlocked her phone.

 **Where are u?**

Rosalie wanted to know where Bella was, but for what reason? To hurt her? Bella wouldn't put it past her.

 **At school.**

She decided that was a safe enough statement. Either it would piss Rosalie off with it's vagueness or satisfy her that Bella hadn't run away too far.

 **Which part of school?**

Bella couldn't tell if Rosalie was pissed, but it looked like she had wanted a concise answer.

Bella's fingers hovered over the keyboard. What should she type?

Then Angela's message showed up. **I'm going home with you tonight. Wait for me? I'll be out in five minutes; I'm skipping out on the reminder of club.**

Bella felt a gush of warmth for her friend. Then, feeling more confident, she texted Rosalie her exact location.

The blonde must have been close by because she arrived in about three minutes time, her heeled boots clicking on the floor. Bella felt her heart jump at the sight of her and she rose up to her feet. What was going to happen now?

Some walking by student's saw the blonde hurrying over to Bella, who was pale faced, and quickly hurried away, knowing that what happened next they didn't want to be involved in.

Rosalie stopped a few feet in front of Bella, looking dangerous and gorgeous as always. Like an exotic predator that was nice to look at but which would kill it's observer on the turn of a dime. The two of them sized each other up for a while, Rosalie's back tall and Bella cowering. The silence between them was stifling. It made Bella blurt out hastily. "I told her. I told her it was me."

"I don't believe you," Rosalie sneered.

"Then believe me." It was at that moment that Angela chose to walk in. She held her bag of art supplies with her, a streak of paint on her face that she hadn't managed to wash off yet. Her hair was held up in a messy updo, a colorful bandanna around her forehead to keep the brown baby hairs out of her eyes. In comparison to Rosalie, who was all sleek, sharp lines and designer clothes, she looked small and meek, but the aura she gave off meant she would not be trifled with.

She looked Rosalie right in the eye, not afraid of the other. She held her chin up, making Rosalie jerk her own chin up in a show of declaring dominance over her. "Bella told me all about what you made her do. And it's quite sick. Really, if you had a crush on me all you could have done was talk to me instead of having her act as your little messenger."

Bella felt her heart drop at the words that left her friend's mouth. Did Angela have a death wish? One was never to accuse the popular girl in school of being gay. That was a social no-no.

Angela only smirked at the end of her statement and Rosalie's eyes widened dramatically-almost comically- as her face paled. "How dare you!" She said through gritted teeth. Her hands clenched by her sides and Bella instinctively took a step back. But Angela stood her ground.

"Come on. No need to be so shy. I understand it can be hard for you to come to terms with your feelings for me, but it's okay. I get it." Angela winked playfully at Rosalie, ghosting her fingers over her arm. "I think you're kinda cute too if it makes you feel any better."

Rosalie's mouth opened and closed. She was so angry that no words were coming out from her throat. Instead she shook and Bella feared she would explode.

"Come on, Bella. Time to go home," Angela pulled on Bella's wrist and pulled the shocked girl away, not worried at all at the state Rosalie was in.

Only when the two girls had left the school building did they erupt into laughter.

"Did you see the look on her face?" Angela guffawed as she tried to hide her amusement behind a hand but failed to do so. Bella had tears pressing out the corners of her eyes.

"She looked like she was going to explode. And then when you touched her I thought she was going to burst into flames right then and there!" Bella felt her sides would break from laughing so much and she stumbled to her car, holding onto her sides with her arms. "I still can't believe you said all that," Bella added as she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. She opened the cab door to her truck. Angela entered in through the passenger side.

"I told you girl, I got your back," Angela smiled. "And beside, you have no idea how relieved I was that it was you writing those notes. I thought it was some creep or worse." This statement sobered the two of them up but not for long. They burst into laughter again.

"Telling her she had a crush on you was so genius!"

"Thank you, thank you," Angela fake bowed. "All in a day's work for a best friend."

The rest of the ride, Angela thankfully did not press Bella more on the issue of the blonde bully and instead they chatted about homework and shows to watch. As Bella dropped the girl off at home, she couldn't help but feel insanely happy. The look on Rosalie's face had been priceless. Bella was glad she had told Angela the truth.

But the happiness didn't last. Her phone chirped with a text message and when she saw what was written there her smile dropped as did the pit of her stomach. Cold dread settled over her skin.

 **I'm going to get you for your little friend's comment. Don't think you're going to get away with that, dyke!**

The message was punctuated with knives and angry faces but Bella didn't need to see those to know that Rosalie was really, really, really, pissed off.

 **A/N: So after this, there's gonna be like a final show down, then a chapter from Rosalie's perspective on everything so far.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A Bad Deal?**

 **Water Demons**

The weather was warm, but not too hot, the last remnants of summer still in the air before the weather cooled down substantially in October. And in order to celebrate the last of the warm weather and sunlight, Rosalie had thrown a party in her backyard. A pool party to be exact. But the only guests invited had been Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and Edward. And Bella.

But while the popular kids were having fun, drinking and getting drunk out of solo cups, clad in swimwear and bopping their heads to music playing from a speaker, Bella was moping around in her regular clothes, fiddling with her fingers nervously.

It had been two days since last Rosalie had promised to get back at Bella for what Angela had said and to say Bella was nervous was an understatement. She had no clue what the blonde had planned and her stomach churned with nerves, alternating with waves of arousal when she got an eyeful of the blonde walking around.

She was all long tan limbs, her body sculpted to perfection. She was wearing a little red bikini that was just perfect for her, not at all hiding the curves of her hips or the swell of her breasts. Her hair was done up in a messy bun and she had glasses situated on the slim bridge of her nose.

She was lying on a tanning chair, soaking up the rays and sipping on a mojito. Edward and Emmett were having some sort of swimming competition, splashing around in the water. Alice and Jasper were laughing and talking about something on the other end of the pool. Bella was sitting by the patio, trying to focus on the other teens and not Rosalie because the blonde was exposing too much skin for Bella's heart to handle. And it was totally conflicting with the fear she felt.

All that Bella could garner right now was that Rosalie had invited Bella here so she could serve them food and drinks. Kind of like a waiter. Replicate fancy drinks from websites. Prepare bite sized snacks. Clear up the empty dishes and redo. Not that Bela minded. It was much better than getting the shit pummeled out of her. And they ignored her for the most part, letting her be bored out of her mind peacefully. Except when they needed something.

"I need a refill," Rosalie shook her glass back and forth, the ice clinking in the empty cup. Bella jumped from her seat, grabbing the cup and avoiding to the best of her ability from looking down at Rosalie. She wanted to look, wanted to soak in her smooth golden skin, the rippling muscles underneath it, but it was dangerous to do so, and not only because of what Rosalie would do when she caught Bella staring, but also because it made naughty thoughts run in Bella's head.

The popular teens all had perfect bodies, worked to perfection all in their own right. Emmett had huge chiseled muscles, not an ounce of fat on his body due to his rigorous football regime. Jasper and Edward were smaller in stature then the giant but they had a sort of Greek like beauty to them, reminiscent of the Greek and Roman sculptures, almost like each muscle had been carved out of stone.

And Alice was the smallest of them, her features rendering her to look sort of magical with how delicate looking she was. Like a light breeze could break her tiny fingers and petite features. But as Bella rubbed her chest, she recalled how strong the small girl was. She had held up the weight of Bella in one hand as she had dangled the taller girl out the car door. And she was certainly crueler than her innocent and angel like features indicated her to be.

But of course Rosalie's beauty out-shadowed all of theirs. There was something intoxicating about how she looked. Something regal about the way she moved; about how she so much as blinked and breathed.

 _Oh my gawd, I sound so obsessive right now. I need to stop._ Bella was falling back into her old mindset, the one before she got to know the real Rosalie, when she would mindlessly ogle her and think up of dreamy phrases and poetic words to explain the blonde's beauty and captivating presence. Finding out what Rosalie was like ( for Bella had heard the rumors but it was different to hear one thing and actually experience it in person ) had sort of put a damper on Bella's idolization of the blonde. It didn't soften her crush, just made it less idealized.

 _It must be the sun. Yes, it's getting to me. And the bikini. God. She looks so good in it. Well, duh. She's a model. She has to look good in clothes. And in no clothes. I bet she looks so good naked_ -Bella shook her head to gather her thoughts, to pause her imaginary hands running down Rosalie's smooth exposed and toned stomach, and focused on making another drink for Rosalie.

When she returned with it she found that Rosalie had gotten up from her chair and was talking to Alice and Jasper about something, the two of them looking delighted with what she was saying. Bella didn't bother to wonder what it was they were conversing about, just walked up and gave Rosalie her glass.

The trio had finished talking by the time Bella had arrived and turning smoothly on her heel, Rosalie snatched the glass up and walked back to her chair. Bella made sure to keep her eyes looking up, and not following after Rosalie's legs that just went on for days.

 _Great. Thanks hormones for reminding me why I have such a huge crush on her_.

"Hey, Bella," Alice started, smirking mischievously. Bella didn't like the way Alice was talking to her. She was certain something was up.

"Hi," Bella said and gave an awkward little wave before she moved to go away but Alice but a hand on her shoulder.

"Trying to leave so soon?" Jasper asked, pretending to be hurt. His eyes were a bit glazed over and the smell of alcohol reeked from him.

"I'm just gonna get more drinks for you guys and stuff," Bella lied.

"We don't need that," Alice waved it away. "But tell me, do you know how to swim?"

"Uh...yes?" Bella asked, not certain why they were asking her such questions.

"Good!" Alice clapped her hands. "Time for a swim." And then she and Jasper lunged forward with delighted laughs and pushed Bella into the pool.

"Fuck-!" Bella gurgled out as she hit the cold liquid. Water invaded her lungs and she flailed her arms to try to stop her descent. It took a while for her panicked brain to figure out what to do with itself before it commanded Bella's body to swim up and get air, and Bella got her limbs to work in coordination and she broke through the surface with a huge gasp.

She treaded water as she tried to regain breath, coughing up water. She was aware that Edward, Emmett, Jasper and Alice were laughing at her, peering down at her in the pool and pointing their fingers at her.

 _Haha, very funny_ , Bella thought sarcastically as she floated over to the pool edge. Emmett reached down a hand to her, a wide grin on his face. "Man you should have seen your face. It was hilarious!"

Bella didn't want to say anything to that, so she didn't. Because it certainly wasn't funny for her. She accepted Emmett's hand only for the boy to use it to fling her into the pool once more.

Again a chorus of laughs greeted Bella as she resurfaced, spitting out water angrily. Assholes! This time Bella knew better than to accept Emmett's help and got out of the pool by herself. Her clothes were thoroughly soaked, down to the underwear and socks and she knew there was no way she was going to be able to go home like this. She wringed out one end of her shirt. A puddle grew under it as water poured out.

"I can't believe you fell for Emmett's trick. It's like the oldest trick in the book," Edward chuckled nastily before high fiving the big man.

"Yea, yea, stupid Bella, right," Bella muttered, moving to push some wet strands of hair out of her face.

"Looks like you got pretty soaked. Just like Alice and Jasper and I hoped you would," Rosalie purred as she strode over from where she had been tanning and watching in amusement as Bella had struggled in the water.

Of course Rosalie orchestrated this whole thing to happen. _I suppose it was part of her revenge._ Now she knew what the trio of friends had been talking about earlier. She wished she had come in on them sooner and heard their plan so she could avoid this.

"And there's no way you can walk around in clothes like those." All of Rosalie's friends nodded their heads at her words. "You'll catch a cold or something, and I can't stand to have your nasty little dyke germs around me. Why don't you guys help Bella strip."

 _Ah, shit,_ was the single thought in Bella's head as she realized what it was Rosalie was ordering. _Should I struggle? It'll make things harder for them, but I clearly know it's going to do jackshit because there's four of them and they all work out and I'm a little weak ass chicken shit. Maybe I could ask nicely, laugh it off as a joke or something? Maybe plead with Rosalie to change her mind?_

 _Nah, that'll only encourage her._

"Hey, I can undress myself," Bella suggested, hoping that by some miracle they would let her do this by herself. At least she would have some control over her situation then and not have it entirely at the mercy of others. Others who clearly hated her.

"Rosalie said you needed some help doing it," Emmett jerked back his thumb to Rosalie who stood impassively by, sipping on her drink.

 _I should have spit in her drink while I had the chance. Such a bitch. Still hot tho,_ Bella looked away from the other, not wanting her body to get aroused now when it would be revealed to others.

"Guys..." Bella tried once more, trying to pout in hopes that it would work on them. Somehow charm them into leaving her alone. Of course it didn't work. Bella didn't have magical hot god powers. But she sure wished she did.

"Quit stalling Bella. We're just trying to help you out," Alice cooed, shoving Bella on the shoulder. The girl stumbled back a step, getting dangerously close to the pool edge again.

"Yea. Helping you, like friends do," Jasper put emphasis on the word friends. Bella didn't think they were being friendly right now.

"Yea, friends," Edward seconded, pushing Bella on the other shoulder and nearly shoving her into Jasper's chest. The boy held onto her before he pushed her roughly away and into Emmett's hard chest.

"Guys stop. Stop it!" Bella cried out as they began to pass her around and around, laughing cruelly at her. She tried to push back against them, to try to kick at them, bite. But their fingers jerked on her clothes, pulled on her hair. She felt they were all around her. The world was spinning too much and she couldn't catch a breath, their laughs vibrating in her ear and echoing around her skull.

She was close to tears if she wasn't crying yet. "Stop it!" There was a huge rip following that loud cry and Bella fell to her bottom, her shirt ripped down the front, exposing her chest and stomach. She was gasping, feeling unstable and afraid. They stood towering over her, silent.

Bella prayed that it would be over. That it wouldn't get any worse. But it did.

A whole lot worse.

"Don't cry Bella," Rosalie's cruel voice brought her attention back to the blonde whose gaze swept over her exposed skin to the frightened brown eyes. She jerked Bella's chin up with her hand, her nails biting into Bella's skin. "The fun is just starting. I told you I would get you back for your little friend's nasty comments. And I always keep my promises." Rosalie gave a toothy smile before she straightened back up. She tossed her phone to Edward who caught it in his hand surprisingly for he was buzzed just like everyone else around him. "Use that to record _everything_. I want it all for blackmailing purposes later." Then Rosalie directed that perfectly predatory smile to Bella, her captured prey, stuck behind a cage of perfectly tan legs, wearing ridiculously expensive flip flops.

"Now, Bella. Listen carefully. This is what I need you to do..."

 **A/N: I think this might be the crux of the worst thing that Rosalie does to Bella before things get worked out between the girls. Essentially Bella's breaking point where she realizes she needs this to stop or else it'll just be a repeat of what happened before in her last school. Next chapter: Bella strikes back.  
**


	12. Chapter 12

**A Bad Deal?**

 **Lunch with the Devil's Spawn**

To say Bella was too shamed and frightened to go to school Monday morning just hit the tip of the iceberg of emotions that floated around inside her. She was mortified, scandalized, angry, sad, betrayed and worst of all, scared. Scared to what Rosalie would do with what she had now on her phone. Pictures and photos of Bella streaking nude through the neighborhood. Bella hadn't wanted to do it of course. But Rosalie had forced her into doing it. It was her payback for Angela lipping off to her.

Letting out a pained whimper, Bella curled in closer on herself, hugging her pillow like it was a life raft. She wanted to disappear in on herself. She wanted to make this all go away. Charlie had checked up on her this morning and Bella had said she had felt too ill to go to school, which wasn't a lie.

Bella felt physically sick and she looked the part. Black bags under her eyes, sweaty and pale pallor and stomach churning too much to eat anything. All she could so was lie in bed and cry. And she had cried a lot.

What did she do in life, what major power had she pissed off, in order to deserve this cruel hand in life that caused her to forever be tormented by those she loved?

Really, it would be awesome if she could know so she could avoid it all.

Bella's phone had buzzed since morning with text messages from Angela, worrying about the girl. Bella had merely told her she was feeling ill. Rosalie had been silent, which somehow made it worse that she wasn't calling to gloat over more stuff that she could hold over Bella's head. There was no telling what she could be doing with those pictures and videos she had. Just thinking about the student body getting word of it made Bella's stomach cramp up even harder and she closed her eyes as a wave of nausea hit her.

"I'm not going to think about. I'm not going to think about it," she reiterated to herself. She had to be strong. She needed to be stronger than this. _I need to tell Angela. But no. She would only feel guilty that it was her fault I'm in this mess. I'm on my own. I have to figure this out my own way. I somehow need to sabotage Rosalie's phone. And then it will all better._

That thought gave Bella some relief. She wasn't going to let herself be a doormat again and just let all this happen to her. She was going to fight back, and it was time to do so.

Bella wanted to stay home the next day but she didn't. She needed to go to school to scope out the situation. The whole day she felt paranoid, worried that laughing kids in the halls were laughing at her, that looks thrown her way were done so because they knew. She even caught sight of Rosalie once or twice between classes but made sure to duck out of the way so they other wouldn't sight her. As far as the blonde knew Bella wasn't at school. Luckily Bella didn't see the rest of the popular kids at school and she was grateful for that. As the day went on Bella relaxed a little. Rosalie hadn't done anything with the evidence yet. Bella wondered what it was the girl was keeping it for. Was it to prevent Bella from telling Angela about her?

Bella worried endlessly over this and Angela noticed. "Is it Rosalie?" she asked gently in one of their classes.

Bella bit her lip and nodded her head. "I'm just worried about her."

"We should tell a teacher about what she's doing," Angela suggested.

"Like the teachers can do anything about her," Bella scoffed disdainfully. "All they'll do is give her detention which will piss her off more. No, I need to do this on my own terms. That's the only way she'll leave me alone."

"I don't know Bella..." Angela didn't look happy at this suggestion.

"Just trust me on this," Bella said and then turned to face the board as the teacher began his lesson.

At the end of the day, when Bella went to go put her books back into her locker, she saw that something had been slipped inside through the vents. Picking up the paper she saw there was a picture of her on it, naked as the day she was born, hiding her chest behind her crossed arms and head down, face flushed with embarrassment. A note on it said: **There's more where this came from. Piss me off and others will get to see this too.**

Bella gulped and crumpled up the paper in her hands. She needed to get that phone away from Rosalie and quick.

And to do that she would need to enter the lion's den.

Steeling her resolve, she went home, mind whirling with plans.

* * *

Wednesday came. The day of Bella's planned attack. She was going to show Rosalie that not only could she take it, but she could dish it out as well. And it was all going to go down at lunch time.

 **How long are you going to stay out for? I need you to buy my lunch. Don't make me get it myself anymore days or you are seriously going to be sorry.** The text from Rosalie said and Bella had texted back. **I'm coming in today. I just wasn't feeling well these past couple of days.**

Worry about the plan not working out nagged at Bella's mind the whole day. Angela noticed the way the brunette sat on the edge of her seat in every one of her classes and tried to offer soothing words but Bella brushed them off and her gentle inquiries on how she was dealing with Rosalie. All Bella had said was that things were going to end sooner or later.

Angela looked concerned at the finality of the statement and was going to ask more questions about it but Bella wouldn't let her. She didn't want Angela's help in this.

Lunch finally arrived and Bella felt like she was battling a wave of coiling snakes in her stomach. She swallowed down the urge to run, instead forcing her legs to move towards the lunch table that she knew the popular kids would be seated at. They sat there laughing and joking around with one another in their designer clothes with their silly hairdos and expensive makeup.

"Ah, looks like someone wants to join us today," Jasper was the first to notice her and he drew the others attention to the brunette who tried to make her face look as angry as possible. Or at least somewhat scary looking. She must have just looked in pain, because the others didn't seem put off by her.

"What do you want loser?" Rosalie drawled, lazily eyeing Bella up and down. "If this is about the pictures, I'm not deleting them. Their mine. But if you continue slacking with the lunches then I might not be the only who has them." Rosalie wrinkled up her nose. "I had to wait on line to buy my own lunch today." She said this as if some great travesty had fallen over her.

"I won't slack on the lunches. But I was hoping to sit with you guys today," Bella said as she lifted up her wrapped lunch. This seemed to genuinely catch the popular kids off guard. And she knew why. There was an unwritten rule that no one. Read: No ONE sat with the cool kids. Ever. Under any condition.

And here Bella was, not choosing to sit at their table due to a mistake, but deliberately telling them she wanted to sit with them. She wasn't even asking them it, just stating it. Bella knew how many social rules this was breaking and prepared herself for the backlash that could occur from doing such an action. It was practically the equivalent to a meteor hitting the school.

"You wanna sit with us?" Emmett looked around the table in disbelief. "She wants to sit with us? Get a load of that shit," he said to his friend's, jerking his thumb nastily at her.

"Well, you did call me your friends last weekend. So I figured friends sit together," Bella said, keeping her voice steady and acting more bravely than she felt, she sat down on the empty spot next to Rosalie who moved away from her like she had a disease. Bella's action garnered more bewildered looks from the teens.

"Friends? Friends? We only called you that as a joke. A mean joke. We're not your friends," Alice clarified. While Bella knew this, the words still hurt.

"Ah, come on guys, friends make jokes like that all the time," Bella tried to play it off, making her voice bright and cheery as she unwrapped her sandwich.

"Bella I didn't order you to sit here," Rosalie's voice was low. "So I suggest you get the fuck up in the next five seconds or I will remove you by force."

"Aw, Rosie. Don't." Alice placed a cautionary hand on the blonde's arm that was tensed in anger. "I think I'm actually finding Bella here to be quite interesting. "

At this Rosalie blinked rapidly, as if to clear her eyes, to see if the Alice in front of her was the same one as two seconds before. "What?"

"She's...interesting. I can see why you wanna keep her by your side. She's brazen enough to sit with us. She's got balls. Bigger balls than most of the guys I know. And I wanna see what makes her tick." Then Alice retreated her hand and turned to Bella, her blue swirling orbs on her with their full intensity. It was like having one's soul stared into. "So tell me about yourself Bella." She tucked her hands under her chin waiting patiently and ignoring the confused looks her friend group was throwing at each other over her head.

Bella took a bite on her sandwich, slowly chewing on it as she thought of something to say. She had never expected to actually get this far. Shit, what did she do? She knew she had to get on their good side. That way she could keep coming to their lunches and get her hands on Rosalie's phone. "I'm not originally from here. I'm from Arizona. But you probably can't tell because I'm white as a ghost." Bella settled for that, cracking a smile at what she hoped would be taken as a joke. She felt like her heart was going to pop out of her chest. That's how nervous she was. _Play it cool. Play it cool. And don't let your defenses down,_ she reminded herself.

At her joke, she actually got Edward and Emmett to crack a smile. "You're right. You are pale as a ghost," Alice said.

"Can't afford to get a tan, that's why. Her broke ass has to spend all her time working for minimum wage at the local McDonald's," Rosalie commented nastily.

"Nah," Bella tried to say casually. "I'm more of a Burger King fan."

"Disgusting garbage either way," was Rosalie's thought on that.

"And hobbies? What do you like to do?" Alice continued to inquire. The whole lunch period passed this way, with Alice asking her questions, Rosalie entering some snide comments of her own, and the boys occasionally adding to it. Gradually the shocked atmosphere surrounding Bella's unplanned arrival faded away.

Bella felt the lunch had been successful. However, she would only see tomorrow. If they let her sit down then it was good. If they didn't then Bella would have to find another way to get the phone. She needed her pictures deleted. The sooner the better.

When Bella headed over to her after lunch class, word had gotten around of what she had done during lunch.

"Dude, you sat with the cool kids. The cool kids!" Mike threw out his hands like Bella had done something world changing like curing all illness.

"Yea. I know." Bella shrugged like it was no big deal.

"No need to get all cocky now bitch just cause you got to sit with them," Jessica snarled, jealousy flaring in her eyes.

"Whoa, chill. Jealously. So not cute on you," Eric chided, coming to Bella's defense.

"What were they like?" Lauren asked, her eyes glowing.

Bella shrugged. "Normal. They talk about normal kid things. Like shows and food. Kinda boring actually."

Lauren seemed disappointed with this apparently hoping for some sort of inside scoop on them, but Bella was in no mood to talk more about this.

"Still, this is so crazy. They never let anyone sit with them. How'd you do it?" Mike continued to hound Bella down the hall as the bell for classes rang. Her other friends went their way, but Mike didn't seem to care about being late to his class.

"I just walked up to them. Real causal. Their just human, Mike." She rolled her eyes at him.

He wasn't happy with that answer, probably hoping to find a way to sit with them but Bella honestly had no more to offer him. It's not like she was sitting with them because she liked them, but because she had to.

* * *

For a week and a half, Bella managed to get to sit with the cool kids and in the meantime the talk about it never stopped. Kids in the halls would look and point at Bella in awe. Some even dared to approach her and ask her how she did it but Bella brushed them off, not really caring about this at all. She only had one goal in mind: getting her hands on Rosalie's phone.

Alice was largely the reason behind why the brunette continued to sit with them. Of course there was a ritual that had to be followed. Bella would approach the table. They would all fling insults at her, and given how she handled them, either with witty banter versus tears, they would decide if she could sit with them today. And some insults really hurt. It was like they were going out of their way each and every time to find ones that would bring her down. Some had even caused a tear or two to prick at her eye but she couldn't afford to show weakness.

And Bella so far had managed to secure her seat with them everyday. They'd all talk to her, maybe even dare she say, treat her civilly. Rosalie would just ignore her. Avoiding looking at her, and her body stiff and unyielding, always the furthest away. Bella wondered why her presence bothered the blonde so much but she wasn't going to ask about it. The blonde seemed fine in other contexts.

"So Bella, you ready for another round of toilet papering?" Alice asked as she dipped her fry into ketchup and raised it to her lips.

"Uh, what?" This tripped Bella up. Surely they weren't thinking of doing that again?

"You can't say no. You've already done it once, cause Rosie brought you along. So that means you're in it for life," Emmett said.

"Yes. For life," Alice breathed as she chewed down her fry.

Bella didn't know what to say to this. She certainly didn't want to do it. "Uh, I think that's up to Rosalie to ask me to do." Bella looked hopefully over to Rosalie, praying that the blonde would agree and say no on Bella's behalf. Rosalie just rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Ooo, this is gonna be fun. We're gonna have to teach you how to throw better!" Alice gleefully said, grabbing Bella's upper forearm and squeezing hard. "You need to put those muscles to work."

"Yea, like my muscles!" Emmett flexed, his shirt straining.

"Stop showing off!" Jasper seemed pissed about this and he swatted Emmett on the side of his head.

"Jealous?" Emmett stuck out his tongue.

"No, just annoyed by your overt masculinity. There is no need to shove down the fact that you have big muscles into our throats every couple of minutes."

"Would you prefer I shoved something else big down?" Emmett winked and Jasper only groaned out loud in annoyance as Edward and Alice laughed. Bella hide her smile, unsure if she could join in on their amusement. It was at times like these that she could almost forget how they could be assholes.

"Isn't Emmett just a riot?" Alice giggled, more for Bella's sake than anyone elses. She leaned in close to Bella's ear to do this, her breath ghosting over Bella's ear shell. Bella had noticed that Alice was very touchy and clingy and it kind of made her uncomfortable sometimes. Especially because she noticed Alice only did this when Rosalie was around. "Don't you think he's funny. Just so hilarious?" she asked, tickling her fingers up and down Bella's side. "Come on, laugh!"

"Alice-haha-Alice stop!" Bella swatted away at Alice's hands, trying to get away but the small girl was strong if not persistent. She had Bella wiggling around so madly she fell off her seat. Only on the ground did she have a chance to regain her breath. Alice stared down at her, her grin a bit shark toothed.

"Ready for round two?" she questioned as Bella pulled herself up right.

"No, no! Mercy! Have mercy!" Bella cried out, not ready for another road. She felt like she was going to pee herself if it continued.

"Alright, but only because you're so adorable when you ask nicely," Alice cooed, running a hand through Bella's brown locks. Bella blushed lightly at this, hoping it would pass off as the blush from when she had been tickled earlier. Alice was a girl. A hot girl and so it was only natural for Bella to feel a bit of happiness at the way her hair was carefully pushed back. And at being called adorable. _She thinks I'm cute? Really?_

"Alright girls, if you're done fooling around, we gotta focus on setting up the TP event." Edward tried to regain some control over the table.

"Aww, but fooling around with Bella is so much fun," Alice faux pouted and threw an arm over Bella's shoulders using the back of one hand to stroke Bella's cheek delicately. "She just blushes the loveliest shades." As if to prove her point Bella blushed hard.

There was a loud snap and everyone turned their head to see that Rosalie had snapped the plastic fork in her white knuckled grip. "Alice, enough fooling around."

"Oh?" Alice asked innocently. "Does it bother you. Do you not like me touching your little plaything?"

Bella did not like this. _Why am I dragged into the argument between these two?_ It didn't take a genius to know that something had happened between the girls. Whatever it was had caused a tension between the two of them, shimmering just under the surface of their false facade of a friendship. And that Alice was deliberately using Bella to get to Rosalie.

Rosalie's nostrils flared at this. She looked like she was going to spit acid but her features relaxed a moment later. "No. Just looking out for you girl. I know Bella is enjoying the feel of your hands way too much on her body right now. Just thought you should know she's gay in case you're thinking of putting your little hands all over her again."

The world stopped at this, all of Bella's senses going fucking numb. Rosalie had told...she had spilled...oh god. All the popular kids at school now knew that she was gay. It was over. It was all over. All of Bella's suffering and for naught.

Bella was barely aware of anything going on around her right now. All she could feel was crushing despair, her eyes filling with tears. What was the point of me doing all those things for her if she was going to tell people anyways? I don't deserve this. That thought turned all of Bella's despair into hot burning anger that scalded a path through her veins and filled her with the need to do something; to retaliate. Her world was focused on the blonde only. Nothing else mattered right now. It was like having tunnel vision.

She stood up on shaking legs and then marching her way over to Rosalie, who was currently smug and gloating, she slapped her hard across the cheek. Rosalie's head snapped back and there came a chorus of gasps from the table.

Bella felt the sting of the slap. It lingered on her palm like a harsh caress. "You fucking bitch," she growled out, barely recognizing her own voice. She was so angry that it was hard to think. All she knew was that she hurt. That it fucking her to have her deepest secret exposed like this, on whim, and she wanted to share her pain with someone else. "I did all you told me too. Only for you to fail to uphold your end of the bargain. Fuck you."

Rosalie turned her head to face Bella, her cheek red where she had been hit. Her eyes glowed dangerously. "Fuck me? No, it's you whose going to get fucked up."

With those words Bella knew it was time to run. She had provoked the beast and now it was on the attack. Bella span on her heel and ran full force, desperate to get away. If she made it into the school building then Rosalie couldn't hurt her there. Not with so many people around. Bella rounded some bushes, passing by some benches. She really wished more people were around the little campus so that at least she could call out for help. Not that it would do much. They wouldn't stop to help her.

Rosalie was hot on her heels, a predator hunting. Bella knew she should give up hope in trying to outrun the blonde. Bella never exercised, a stitch in her side already growing, whereas the blonde was in her top form. She tackled Bella down hard to the ground just a minute after they had begun to run.

Bella went face first into the gravel. Fingers clawed into the back of her shirt, turning her around so she was facing Rosalie, the taller teen straddling her waist and keeping her pinned under her weight. "You think you can get away with slapping me you little bitch? Who do you think you are?" She shook Bella's shoulder's at this, the brunette fighting to free herself from the vice like hold.

"You fucking told them. You fucking told them about me! About my secret when you promised you wouldn't!"

"I don't have to fulfill any promise I make to you, worm!" Rosalie brought her face closer to Bella's, snarling this in her face. Bella squirmed under her, needing to get free. "And you are going to pay dearly for marring my perfect features."

Bella saw Rosalie cock back the fist, her free hand lifting Bella up by the front of her shirt. She knew what was going to happen and she knew her own hands could never protect her from it. So she did the only thing of attack she knew that would defend her against the blonde.

She kissed her.

It was soft kiss, barely an actual kiss. More like the placement of lips on lips but it was enough.

It froze up the entire length of Rosalie's body, her eyes going wide. They stayed like that for a while, Bella sliding her hands up the girl's denim clad legs. And for a crazy moment, Bella swore she could almost feel Rosalie pressing her lips back against Bella's. But then it was over, the blonde tearing herself away from Bella like the girl was on fire.

"Fuck you. Fuck you for doing that!" Rosalie alternated between spitting and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Bella took this moment to get up and run away, glancing over her shoulder every few moments to check up if Rosalie had decided to follow her. She hadn't.

Sliding into the school building, Bella immediately felt a lot more safe. She let out a choked sigh. She really couldn't believe she had just done that. First the slap and then the kiss.

 _Her lips are so, so, soft. I can't wrap my mind around the fact she says such nasty words with them. Such a waste._ Bella let her fingers trace over her lips where they still felt warm from the kiss.

Then she looked down at the object she held in her hand. Rosalie's phone, snatched during that quick kiss moment when the blonde had been distracted.

"Helloooo," Bella sang at it, wondering what dirty secrets of her own Bella could find on this phone.

 **A/N: So Bella really lets loose here. Good for her. But boy did it take forever to get to this point of the story. I didn't mean for it to take this long  
**


	13. Chapter 13

**A Bad Deal?**

 **A Succubus' Past**

 **A/N: I rewrote this chapter sooooooooo many times because I couldn't find the right angle I wanted to work with it. But finally, _finally_ , I've manged to get this together. Hopefully it delivers the way I want it to.**

When Rosalie was six years old she made her first real friend. Her first _and_ last real friend.

She had been having a really rough day at home. Her parents had forbidden her from doing something or another, she couldn't really recall now, but at the time it had really upset her, so much so that she ran away in the middle of the conversation. They hadn't bothered to go after her, thinking she would come back soon to the house but Rosalie wasn't planning on going back anytime soon. She wanted to run away, to hit the road with only the clothes on her back and find some new parents that would appreciate her better.

With that intention in mind she went off into the woods at the edge of Fork's small town, for what runaway didn't traipse through the woods on their journey? Brambles caught on her pink frilly dress, pulling on pure white knee high socks and scrapping painfully on her exposed legs. Bugs bit at her since it was the start of summer and their tyrannical dominion would begin and reign supreme for a couple more months until the winter claimed them. Still, she kept walking, her anger fueling her tiny limbs.

She didn't know how long she walked for, wiping tears off of her cherub cheeks with the back of her hand, until she made it to a creek. There she sat down, tired and sweating under her fancy summer dress. Her hair, which had been made up in ringlets and tied with a bow, was slowly coming apart.

Rosalie sat there on a cool flat rock, staring at her reflection in the water when there came a commotion from her right. She whipped her head in that direction, thinking it could be her parents, come to find her. If so, she would dig her heels in and refuse to listen to them. They were stupid. And dumb.

But instead, what she saw coming out of the bushes, over a little overhang, was a scrawny little kid who was yelling at the top of their lungs before barreling off of the rocky outcrop and plunging into the deeper part of the river. There was a giant splash, one that reached all the way over to Rosalie. She flinched back from the splash and watched with wary eyes as the water stayed still where the kid had jumped in. Were they okay? Would there be a corpse floating around? Just as she had gotten up to go investigate, a head popped out accompanied by the loud inhalation of oxygen. The kid made their way over to the shore, wading through the water, hair in their eyes. Rosalie watched them clamber up onto the rocks and only when they pushed the fringe out of their eyes did they notice her there.

"Oh," they made a funny shape with their mouth. "I've never seen you around here before."

"That's because I don't come here often." Rosalie responded with, even before she could decide if she really wanted to talk to this kid. They were thin and with their shirt and shorts damp and clinging to their flesh they looked even smaller. Their hair was cut unevenly and it hung around their shoulders. And their voice was high pitched. Was the kid a girl? Rosalie couldn't be sure.

"I come here a lot. Over the summer. Its my favorite spot. I can swim in the water when it gets too hot. Or I can sit on the rocks and think." The girl said unprompted and plopped down on her back onto the rocks in a patch of sunlight so that she could dry up.

Rosalie was intrigued. What kind of kid came out and did thinking for fun? "What do you think about?" she asked as she sat back down on her rock.

The girl shrugged, causing some rocks behind her back to clatter. "I dunno. Stuff. Like stuff that makes me mad. Or sad. And I think about it and then I feel better. But mostly I'm here to have fun! I love walking around the woods and having adventures with my friends."

"Aren't the woods dangerous?" Rosalie wrinkled her nose, reiterating something her parents always told her in order to keep her from wandering outside.

"Nah. Not if you know what you're doing," the girl said and then sat up. "What are you doing here? You look to be dressed too nice to be here."

Rosalie looked down at her clothes then back at the girl. Crossing her hands over her chest she stated, "I'm running away." The appearance of the girl had detracted her anger but now she remembered it.

The girl titled her head to the side curiously. Instead of asking the usual, "how come," or "why?" she asked, "Can I run away with you?"

This threw Rosalie off. "Why? Why do you want to run away with me?"

"It seems like a fun adventure."

"It's not an adventure! I'm serious!" Rosalie huffed, affronted by this girl's lack of solemnity.

"Oh," the girl's honey brown eyes widened. "Why do you want to run away?"

Rosalie went into a passionate tirade about what had happened at home and the brunette waited and listened patiently to her. By the time Rosalie had finished she had ended up crying again. The other girl took this moment to wrap her arms around the other in a hug, placing a warm kiss on Rosalie's forehead. The embrace was warm, the kiss even more so, despite the wet water and chill still clinging to the others flesh.

"Don't cry. Your parents love you a lot. Their just being annoying. Doesn't mean you should run away." This was said with all the wisdom a fellow six year old could muster.

"Don't you ever want to run away?" Rosalie asked through sniffles as she pulled away from the other. She couldn't believe she cried in front of a stranger. Her mother always told her she had to be a proper lady and keep her emotions under control. But maybe it was because this girl was a complete stranger that she was okay with it, with letting it all loose.

"I do," the brunette affirmed as she sat down on the rock by Rosalie, the blonde scooting over to make some room. "But then I think about how sad my dad would be if I left. Because my dad only has me left. He doesn't have my mom or a sister or anything like that."

Rosalie nodded her head as she took this in. Talking to this girl made her feel better. She didn't feel as overcome with the desire to run away anymore. She felt calm now. Like all she had needed all along was someone to listen to her.

Both girls were quiet a moment before the brunette shot up off of the rock like a rocket and clapped her hands together in excitement. "Hey, why don't we play a game? It'll make you feel better!"

"Like what?"

"Like, let's pretend we _did_ run away!"

Rosalie arched a brow. "I don't know..." She didn't actually want to run away. She was just being dramatic.

"It'll be fun. I know a perfect spot where we can have a house," the brunette exclaimed in excitement and tugged on Rosalie's hand. For the remainder of that day the two of them went around collecting sticks to build a house with. They went 'hunting' for food. They fought 'wild animals' that tried to steal their food. Whereas Rosalie had been reluctant to get busy because it would make her clothes dirty, she soon forgot when she saw how much fun the girl was having. She had twigs and leaves in her hair and mud on her shoes and shirt but her eyes were alive with joy. So Rosalie stopped caring about her dress. Her parents had money so why should it matter.

They played for so long, laughed so hard, that they forgot the passage of time. Only when the sun began to set did they turn back to trek through the woods back home.

Soon it was time to face reality once more. Rosalie would have to go back to her parents and this girl would have to go back to her dad.

They stood at the edge of the woods, dawdling. Neither looked to want to leave. "Will I see you again?" Rosalie asked tentatively.

"Yup." The brunette nodded her head vigorously. "I'll see you later-uh, what's your name?" she asked, scratching her cheek as she blanked on a name never given to her.

"Rose," Rosalie said, wanting the girl to call her this nickname, a nickname only her parents called her.

"Nice to meet ya, Rose! Such a pretty name!" With that the brunette hugged Rosalie and ran off in the opposite direction of where Rosalie lived.

"I don't know your name!" Rosalie shouted out after her, but the brunette didn't stop her running, going as fast as the wind. Soon she was gone around the corner and Rosalie was left standing on the street by herself, wondering if perhaps the girl had even been here in the first place.

That night when Rosalie got home she got the scolding of the century but she couldn't care any less because she would think of the fun adventures she had had with that weird girl who didn't care if she had a worm up her nose, or if Rosalie insulted her, and a smile would crawl onto her face only making her parents yell more. But she didn't care. Not one bit. Because she had never had someone hang out with her for that long.

Sure she had had playdates set up by her mom with the other rich kids in town but it wasn't the same. Because those were arranged and this hadn't been. She wondered if the girl would be there again next day. Or the day after that. Because right now Rosalie was getting grounded.

Eventually, once Rosalie's grounding was over, she went back to the creek, wearing substantially less nice clothing so that if she got dirty it wouldn't matter. Her mother had been very upset at the state of her clothes last time. There, much to her surprise, she found the little brunette along with some boy with thick black hair and tan skin. They were trying to build a tower out of rocks.

"Rose!" the brunette had jumped to her feet, knocking the precarious project over when she saw the blonde approaching. The boy let out an indignant "hey!" at the loss of the hard work but the girl didn't care. She launched herself at Rosalie and gave her a big hug. "I thought you would never come back!"

"I got grounded," Rosalie explained, sticking out her tongue in disgust.

"Whose that?" the boy rose to his feet. He was scrawny but wiry and tall.

"This is Rose. My friend." The brunette swung an arm around the blonde's shoulders and Rosalie felt an incredible warmth in her chest. _Friend? We're friends?_ Rosalie had never had friends before! She wanted to squeal out loud but quickly composed herself. She didn't want to freak her new friend out. "And this is Jake. My close friend." The brunette pointed at the boy who awkwardly waved at Rosalie. No doubt he must be adjusting to her beauty. Rosalie knew she was beautiful even at this age. It was something her parents constantly liked to remind her. And Rosalie took every ounce of pride from it.

"So, uh, are you going to be playing with me and Bella today?" Jake asked, coughing when he realized he had been looking for too long.

Bella...Bella. Such a pretty name. Bella and Rose, best friends together. That phrase went well. "Yes. I'll be hanging out with the two of you."

And from that day Rosalie did. Jake wasn't always around each day, since he lived on the Reserve and had to help his dad with work around the house, not that Rosalie minded since she could get Bella all to herself those days. And they had so many adventures each day. Most of the time they hung out by the creek, letting their imaginations roam and grow. Or if not that then they went biking on some bike that Jake found and fixed up for them, taking turns as they pushed each other down the biggest hill in town. Sometimes when Rosalie got grounded, Bella would sneak over to her house and the two of them would giggle and gossip under the covers of her bed, trying to be quiet so her parents wouldn't know someone was over. But they would always dissolve into fits of laughter or screams of delight when Bella the tickle monster visited town.

And on the days that Rosalie's parents were out of town and the house was empty, then Rosalie would invite Bella over and the two of them would run around, or watch TV, or eat their fill of snacks. Rosalie's favorite part was when they went mattress surfing down the stairs, laughing all the way down.

Those summer days spent together were bliss for Rosalie. She had never had a friend before and she had never known how much fun it could be. Being with Bella made her feel safe, the girl full of energy and affection. She'd always hug Rosalie or give her a kiss on the cheek when they'd first see each other and she could always bring a goofy grin to the blonde's face. Rosalie never wanted the summer to end, but unfortunately it had to. And it did so in a cruel way.

One day, after the first day of classes had ended, Rosalie went down to the creek where Bella usually was each and every day without fail, even in the rain. But she wasn't there. So Rosalie waited, waited until it was eight at night and still there was no Bella. The blonde chalked it up to first day of school business and that Bella must be busy. Maybe she wouldn't frequent this spot anymore. But still Rosalie kept coming back to this spot, day after day, week after week, until two months had passed. This was because she didn't actually know where Bella lived. She didn't know who her father was. They never had talked about it.

Eventually Rosalie thought to go find Jake. She knew where the Reserve was, and she could walk to it if she really had to. So one day she skipped out on school and bundled up in her warmest jacket for winter was approaching without mercy, she set out for the long walk.

When she got there, she found his school and then waited him to finish. He was shocked to see her and even more shocked by her question. "Where's Bella?" he reiterated. "She's gone."

"Gone?" Rosalie echoed hollowly.

"She went to go live with her mother," Jake said softly, pity in his eyes for having to deal this harsh news to her.

"And where does her mom live?" Rosalie asked, knowing she wasn't going to like the answer but needing to know.

"In Arizona." The answer hung in the air, like a blemish that would never leave. It made Rosalie's features mar into ones of confusion and hurt. "Why? Why did she go?"

Jake shrugged. "I don't know. Something about her parents divorce. She's going to live there from now on."

"Why didn't she tell me?" Rosalie whispered out, no longer able to meet his eyes.

"I don't know. I guess she didn't want to worry you. She told me because we've been friends for a while now."

"But she told me _we_ were friends," Rosalie's voice wavered, and she clenched her hands together to stop them from shaking.

"I dunno." Jake shrugged once more.

Rosalie nodded her head. She had to accept this information. It was the only thing she could do. She swiftly turned on her heel and walked away. Only when she was out of earshot of Jake did she let the tears fall freely on her face. It wasn't cold enough for them to freeze but she wished it was so that it would stop her tears from falling because she couldn't make them stop. She thought that she and Bella had been best friends. And as such a best friend would have said that they were leaving for forever.

Angrily and trying to hold back whimpers of pain, she tore the necklace that Bella had given her as a sign of their friendship and tossed it to the ground. She had been so happy when Bella had given it to her. And no matter how many times her mother had told her to throw it out, she always kept, never taking it off even when she bathed. It had been a sign of their close bond but now, it was just painful to wear.

She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't. She felt so betrayed. Like someone had taken her heart and stomped all over it. She had loved spending time with Bella. Every moment with her had been pure joy. But now the memories only stung her worse than a bee sting. She wished she had never met her. She wanted to yell at her. To push her. But most of all ask her to come back. And she couldn't understand all these emotions. They were tearing her young mind and body apart.

She would be inconsolable for months to come and no one would understand why.

For Rosalie had only begun to grasp what it felt like to have truly loved and to have lost.


	14. Chapter 14

**A Bad Deal?**

 **A Demonic Device  
**

"I still can't believe that you managed to steal Rosalie's phone like that. It's wicked cool," Eric whistled appreciatively. He was holding it in his hand, examining it.

"I...it was luck. I had a lot of luck on my side," Bella said vaguely. She didn't want to explain that she had kissed the blonde in order to get the phone. She didn't want her friends to think her queer for that. But she had told them she had slapped Rosalie. Hard.

"Bella's just on a roll today." Angela said this cheerily as she pulled Bella closer to her in a shoulder hug. Right now the trio were in Eric's bedroom. It was after school hours.

"She may be, but Rosalie won't let her continue like this," Eric said soberly. "You should quit while you're ahead. Both of you."

"Hell no. I'm not just going to let Rosalie bully Bella like this!" Angela jerked her thumb at herself angrily.

"Bella's not the first and last person to have issues with Rosalie. No one's been able to stand up to her and those rich kid assholes, so what makes the two of you think that this time will be different?"

"Eric, stop being such a Debbie Downer. Hurry up and just hack the phone like we told you too."

After the events of that fateful lunch, Bella had informed Angela quickly of what had happened. The girl had recommended in getting the phone hacked, saying she knew a guy. That's why the two girls were in Eric's room right now, hoping he would hack the phone for them and find some juicy details for them to use.

"Fine, fine," he sighed, putting up his hands. "I'm just concerned for you two. And for myself. I don't want her coming after me when she finds out what I did with her phone."

"We're not snitches," Bella reassured. She was close to getting some dirt on Rosalie, so the repercussions of pissing off the blonde meant squat to her right now. "And we appreciate you doing this."

Eric nodded his head and plugged the phone into the computer, booting up the hacking program. "This might take a while."

"It's a good thing we brought school work," Angela waggled the folder she pulled out of her book bag. "We'll be downstairs working."

The two girls worked diligently or at least Bella tried to. But her leg shook with impatience. She wondered if anything good could be gained from the phone or if the whole thing would be a bust. She chewed on her pencil absently, her thoughts far removed from the math she was supposed to be working on.

A soft hand on her shoulder had her stop her chewing and look up into Angela's amused eyes. "Calm down Bella. You're anxiety is rubbing off on me."

"Sorry," Bella muttered. "I'm just...impatient to see what Eric comes up with. What if there's nothing there? Then my whole plan will go to shit." Bella had only let Angela in on some of the details of her plan. She didn't want Angela to become too involved and get hurt. She couldn't stand to let that happen.

"Let's talk about something to get your mind off of it then," Angela suggested and Bella was grateful to her friend. The two talked about movies, books, and the new line of drinks that were coming out. Bella almost all but forgot about the phone until Eric called down to them.

"Guys come up. It's done."

Bella nearly bolted out of her chair but had to remind herself to walk calmly. When they got up to Eric's room they noticed he had an odd look on his face. "So, let me give you a quick run down. Most of Rosalie's phone is clean. I couldn't find anything in her photos, or in her notes, or search history, or even her text messages. It's all typical teen stuff."

"But..." Angela edged.

"But, then I went to her deleted files...and well," at this Eric gulped deeply. "I found a bunch of weird shit."

He moved aside to let the girl gaze upon his screen. Bella's hand immediately went up to her mouth and she gasped, while Angela let out a disbelieving laugh. "This shit is golden."

On the screen were rows and rows of pictures of Rosalie making out with a girl. Both were clearly inebriated and unaware of the person who had taken these photos. _Rosalie's gay?_ Bella couldn't wrap her mind around it. _Is that why...why she kept me around her for so long? Because she was in the closet and I was in the closet?_

And there were some text messages attached to it, all from Alice, trending on the topic of blackmail. _And holy shit, Alice was blackmailing Rosalie about this? Is that why Rosalie did the same to me? Was she looking for an outlet to her pain?_ This opened up so much. It gave Bella a better angle to work with.

"What are you gonna do now Bella?" Angela asked softly and Bella had to tear her eyes away from the screen. Those pictures were sort of dangerous...they made Bella entertain weird thoughts. _So what if she's gay that doesn't mean she'll be into you. She's only keeping you around because of what Alice did to her. So stop fantasizing about her._

Yet there was hope in Bella's chest, no matter how hard she tried to squash it down. Hope that Rosalie would now be drawn to her.

"Put this stuff on a flash drive, and delete the rest off of your phone," Bella said and proffered up the item in question.

"You want me to delete the photos? Why?"

"Just delete them. That way she won't ever have a trace of them on her phone." This was all part of Bella's plan.

"Ok-ay," Eric said hesitantly and looking at Bella as if she had a screw loose.

"And then I'm going to put her phone in the lost and found. And after that..." Bella chewed on the pad of her thumb. "After that, I'm going to talk to her."

"Isn't that a bad idea? Do you really think she'll listen to you?" Eric posed as he plugged the flash drive in and transferred the files in one click, wiping the rest of the phone clean of the incriminating photos with another.

"Don't worry guys," Bella shook her head. "I know what I'm doing." She outstretched her hand, grasping the file. Eric didn't let go of it yet. "I hope so," he said and then let go. Bella pocketed the device and bid him a quick thanks before she left to go back home. Tomorrow would be the showdown.

* * *

Bella dropped off Rosalie's phone in the lost and found first thing in the morning. When she came by second period, she found it was gone, which meant that Rosalie had her phone back. Bella quickly texted the other, asking her to meet her outside during lunch.

 **And why should I, after the stunt you pulled?**

 **Because I have something you might want,** Bella had mysteriously responded with. She knew the temptation would be too strong with that, and it was proved true when Rosalie texted her fine.

Even though Bella had the upper hand, she was still nervous, torn between wanting it be over and wanting time to run slower. She had planned out for scenario after scenario but there was no telling which one would be the accurate one. So she could only suppose that it would end the way she wanted it to.

Lunch came and with a thumbs up from Angela and a supportive look from Eric, she left to go meet Rosalie. The blonde was sitting on a bench away from everyone else, sipping on some soda. She looked bored and confident, which made Bella want to exhume that sort of confidence too, so she squared her shoulders back and walked towards Rosalie with purposeful steps.

"So you were the one who took my phone," Rosalie arched a brow as Bella sat down in front of her. "I must say I never expected you to do all that. Caught me off guard. But you won't next time. That's a promise."

"I only took it to help you out. I had my friend clean your phone for you. It turns out you had some photos on there that could be bad for reputation if they ever get leaked."

At this Rosalie's nostrils flared and anger flashed in her eyes but she pretended she didn't know what Bella was talking about. "What photos? I don't have anything that could damage my reputation there. Stop making shit up. And I should report you for looking through my personal stuff. That's a violation of my privacy."

"As was your declaration of my sexual preference," Bella hissed but took a breath to calm herself down. It would do her no good to get riled up. "But I digress. I'm not here to tell you about that. I'm here to give you this." She slid the flash drive out.

"A useless piece of plastic? Is this the thing you were talking about?"

"No. It's what's on it that I want you to have. You see, I was going to get back at you for what you did to me, and what better way then to use what I had found on your phone than to do it." Bella pulled out her laptop next and plugged the USB in. Pictures appeared on the screen, full size, of Rosalie in compromising poses.

Rosalie's eyes widened at this and her hand snaked out to grab the laptop, but Bella slapped it close and took it out of reach of the other.

"You-" Rosalie hissed, a combination of fear and anger on her face. Her hand flexed on her soda can.

"It's okay. I can understand that you wouldn't want anyone to see these photos. It's tough being gay in a small town."

"I'm not GAY!" Rosalie snarled out, flinging her soda can violently to the side. "I was framed. I was-"

"I don't care if that's true or not. I'm not here to debate sexuality with you." Bella cut her off and Rosalie silenced, but she stayed on edge, tapping her fingers angrily into the wood.

"I was going to blackmail you, just like you did to me. But I decided against it. Because then I wouldn't be any better than you. So, as a sign of good will, I'm giving you the flash drive." Bella pulled the piece of plastic out and slide it across the table to Rosalie. The blonde looked to be at a loss of words over this.

"That is the only copy of the photos that I have. Do what you will with it. Just know that I'm not going to come after you, and I hope you'll consider doing the same with me. That this makes us even."

Then with that Bella got up and left a flabbergasted Rosalie still sitting at the table.


	15. Chapter 15

**A Bad Deal?**

 **A Demon's Pact**

After the exchange of the flashdrive, Rosalie left Bella alone. There were no more text messages, no more demands of going to fetch lunch for the blonde, and most of all, thankfully, there were no silly instances on doing illegal things. Bella relished in her new calm, in having freedom over her life once more. Angela noticed that Bella smiled more and sat at their lunch table instead of with the popular kids. Everyone noticed that Bella was present more at lunch time and they were happy to have her back. Everyone but Jessica.

"What, too cool to sit with the popular kids? Or did they finally beat your ugly ass away from the table?" Jessica curled up her lip and Bella merely laughed. Jessica was trying to be intimidating like Rosalie but the only thing they shared were their blonde locks. Jessica had nothing on being scary, on showing off power.

"Is that jealousy I detect? It doesn't look good on you, so stop that."

Jessica made a noise as if she got stabbed, her eyes going wide. Everyone at the table laughed at this and Bella joined in. She wasn't going to let anyone make fun of her. Bella was done taking people's shit. She was a bit drunk off of her win over Rosalie. Of course, it was entirely possible that Rosalie was planning on doing something, just pretending to lay low for now.

So Bella took to bothering Rosalie instead before the blonde could think to bother her first. She showed up to the popular kids table two weeks after her and Rosalie's conversation. The popular kids were chatting, eating their lunch. Bella noticed that Rosalie only had a yogurt and fruit for lunch. It looked like now that Bella had stopped getting her food, she didn't feel like getting it herself.

"Bella bear," Emmett was the first to notice her. He waved a massive hand at her. "What happened to you? You haven't sat with us for a while? Did you get bored?"

"More like got some sense in her head that she doesn't belong with us," Rosalie grit out through her teeth, keeping her back turned to the brunette.

"Aww, did something happen with you and Bella, Rosie? Do you not like her anymore?" Alice pouted. Bella's eyes narrowed on the pixie. Alice knew that Rosalie was gay (or 'gay', since Rosalie wasn't admitting to it) and was manipulating her like Rosalie had manipulated Bella. This explained the tension that existed between the two of them. The question was, what was she making the blonde do? Bella was curious. She knew there had to be more to it than just the pictures.

"No, I simply decided I didn't want my friends think that I was dumping them for you guys. Even though I was," Bella said this in a lower tone of voice, hand cupping one side of her mouth in a conspirator manner.

"Ooo, do they know?" Edward arched his brows. "That you think their trash?"

Bella shrugged. "I think they know, but because I'm close to you guys, they keep me around so they can bask in the after glow of rich kid shine."

That got a few chuckles out of the kids, but Bella wasn't here to make them laugh. She was here for Rosalie. So she purposefully parked herself in front of the blonde, who frowned at Bella, spoon halfway to her mouth.

"What do you want?"

"I wanna get you lunch," Bella said as smoothly as she could while her heart hammered in her chest.

Rosalie let out a little scoff at this. "No thanks. But I'm not into little dykes."

"Ooo, Rosie I think you should take this chance. Not everyday you get an offer like this, especially for someone like you." Alice waggled her brows and now that Bella understood the context of Alice's barbs aimed at Rosalie she knew what Alice was implying in that statement. _Totally not helping here, Alice. Making fun of her sexuality will just make her refuse me more._

Rosalie grit her teeth. "Alice-"

"Rosalie," Alice sang playfully back.

Something flashed in Rosalie's eyes. She clenched her jaw. "Fine. I'll go." She got up roughly.

"Hey, I want a free lunch too!" Emmett cried out.

"You've already eaten so much," Jasper pointed out.

"I'm a big boy," Emmett said, flexing his chest muscles. "I need a lot of meat to keep me sustained."

"Sorry, boys. But this is just for Rosalie. I have to thank her for helping me with something," Bella fibbed the last part.

"Wow, Rosalie helped you with something!" Emmett widened his eyes dramatically and placed a hand over his heart in shock. "What did she do?"

"Come on, let's go," Rosalie ordered Bella and Bella gave a wave, happy she wouldn't have to answer the question because she couldn't come up with another lie on such short notice.

The two of them got a ways away from the table before Rosalie whirled on her heel so that Bella was facing her. "What are you up to?" she growled out low in her throat. She still radiated power and intimidation but Bella found she wasn't nearly as scared as she once used to be. That didn't mean she wasn't nervous whenever she was around Rosalie.

"I'm honestly buying you lunch. That's it."

"That's...it?" Rosalie's anger departed her face, replaced by confusion.

"That's it," Bella affirmed.

"Why? Are you stupid or something?" Rosalie poked Bella hard in the forehead, causing Bella to take a step back and wince in pain as she rubbed her hurt flesh.

"I'm not dumb. What's wrong with wanting to be kind? To do something nice for some else?"

"Because there is always a reason someone does something for someone else. There is no such thing as selfless interest."

"Man," Bella shook her head sadly. "It's sad that is how you think of others. It's definitely not what I was going for." Actually, Bella did have a motive behind her actions, but it wasn't a malicious one.

Rosalie didn't look convinced. "Whatever. Just know that whatever it is you expect from me-maybe you think you can go on a date with me because you have in your dumb little head that I'm gay- you won't be getting from me."

Bella picked her hands in an I surrender pose. "I know. I'm not expecting any of that."

"Good," Rosalie huffed and then ran a hand through her hair before stalking off despite the fact she didn't know what restaurant Bella wanted to get her lunch from. She eventually slowed down and let Bella take the lead. The two of them walked in a tense silence, one that had Bella internally wringing her hands. Should she say anything? She hated this silence. What was Rosalie even thinking right now?

Bella was sure she knew that Rosalie would be disbelieving after what the brunette would tell her. She just hoped the blonde wouldn't storm off. They entered a fast food joint and Rosalie rolled her eyes. "You're treating me to trash?"

"They do have healthy options, you know. No one said you had to eat the burger and fries," Bella retorted, sliding into a booth and pulling up the menu. Snorting, Rosalie took a seat from across Bella, eyeing the menu distastefully. "I suppose since you're buying I can get the most expensive thing."

 _So inconvenient, I swear._ Bella cursed, as her wallet let out a pitiful wail at its soon to be emptiness.

 _But you still like her,_ her ovaries reminded her and Bella let out a sigh. It looked like she would have to order a water and fries in order to have enough money to pay for Rosalie's expensive ass meal. The brunette flagged down a waitress who took their order and went to go make it. This left the two girls staring at each other in silence. Rosalie folded her arms over her chest, arching one perfect brow. Bella fiddled with her hands under the table.

"Look, I'll get right to it. I want to help you."

"What?" Rosalie arched her other brow up. "Help me? Why would I need help from you?" She let out an ugly scoff at the end.

"I want to help you with the Alice situation," Bella stated and she could see Rosalie's eyes flare with anger. "I don't need help with that," she hissed as she leaned forward. It took all Bella had not to lean back, but she didn't.

"I know you don't want to admit to weakness, but whether it's true or not what was in the pictures, I don't think what she's doing is nice. Its what you did to me, and it most certainly wasn't nice."

"Are you pitying me? Are you? I don't need your pity," Rosalie growled out and holy hell that low timbre voice was soooo hot. And so distracting Bella. Bella cleared her throat to get her thoughts back on track. "I'm not pitying you. I already told you I'm done with all that happened between us. Consider it forgiven. We're even now. I know a secret of yours and you know a secret of mine. But I don't want you to have to go through the same ordeal as me. No matter how rude you were to me, and still are," Bella said pointedly at this, "we're in the same boat. I'm sure you don't trust me. Think I'm up to no good. Think that I am trying to revenge myself on you, but I don't want to. Because now that I know that you were only projecting what Alice was doing to you on to me as a coping mechanism I understand more. I still don't like it and don't have to, but I understand. And no one should have to be in such a position." Bella said this softly and imploringly, hoping the blonde would understand.

Right now Rosalie's face was impassive, hard to read except for the furrow between her brows. She looked indecisive. She turned her head and looked out the window, sucking in her bottom lip and just looking out. Bella let her take her time, and even when the food arrived the blonde continued to look out. Finally, after Bella was halfway done with her fries, Rosalie turned back to the table, her eyes hard. "Okay," she announced, crossing her arms over her chest. "I suppose...I'll have to swallow down your bull and crock story. So you want to help me. That's fine. But I don't. Need. Help." Rosalie punctuated. "But I would appreciate having another pair of hands helping me bring down Alice. She's sabotaged me enough times as it is."

Rosalie's want to be free from Alice's machinations must have been strong enough to overcome her suspicions of Bella. Which was fine with the brunette. She would get the blonde to eventually trust her. It was all part of the plan. Yes, all part of the plan to befriend her enemy. After all, they said the best way to get rid of a bully was to make them your friend.

And that was exactly what Bella was going to do.

She hid her smile behind a bite of her fry, and as Rosalie took to her lunch, the two of them began to discuss at length what they could do about Alice.


	16. Chapter 16

**A Bad Deal?**

 **A Perpetual State of Purgatory**

 **A/N: So last time it was Rosalie's POV I focused on her past, but in this chapter, I will be focusing more directly on why she did what she did to Bella, or at least the eventual build up to it. Hopefully it should make things more clear, but they are definitely not an excuse for what she did.**

After that dreadful summer, Rosalie began to withdraw more into herself. She refused to talk to the kids in her school except when necessary and she trusted no one. Last time she had opened up, had spent so much time with someone, and it had ended up with the utmost betrayal. That feeling shimmered inside Rosalie for a long time to come and she was afraid it would never, ever, leave her.

But once she got a bit older and a bit taller and curvier, people began to flock to her, asking for her attention. Her beautiful looks drew many but her sharp tongue and cold behavior repelled even more. They couldn't understand why she didn't want to talk to them, why she refused to accept their warm smiles and praise. But it was because she knew it was all fake, that they only wanted her to talk to them to fuel their own ego; having her as a friend was like having a trophy and showing it off: an achievement in being friends with a hot person.

She didn't want that. Didn't want their fake friendships. They would all leave her anyways. But one boy was different. He didn't seek to get her attention. In fact, he shunned her. He was handsome, the male equivalent of her. With his blonde curly hair and aristocratic features, he drew the eyes of many a female. He openly sneered at her, daring her to come to blows with him verbally. She hated him for his antagonism to her for no apparent reason and he hated her too, or so she supposed. One day it became all too much and she had to ask, had to know why he treated her this way.

"I don't hate you," he had admitted honestly. "I only hate how you won't take advantage of what you have."

"What I have?" she arched a brow, and crossed her arms over her chest to look more intimidating under his blue eyed stare. She was tall for her age, all lean and supple muscle but he was even taller and he towered over her.

"You are destined to be a popular kid, Rosalie. You have the looks, and the money, but you won't let yourself take your rightful place."

"And why should I care about any of this? You sound insane!" She had been taken aback at what he was suggesting. "I don't want fake friends. I don't want friends at all!"

"But fake friends have their uses. They can do anything for you. And they will if you just give them a tiny bit of your attention." He smiled and Rosalie shook her head in disgust. "Why do you care so much about what it is I'm doing with my life?"

"Because I can't stand to see this potential go to waste. You're not trying. You're letting your life pass you by when you could achieve so much than these common plebs who surround you. You have what it takes to be special, to be different, you just need to let yourself get to that point. And, I want to be your friend but I can't do that if you reject everyone."

"I already told you I don't want friends. Or need them!" Rosalie shot back, her skin crawling with discomfort. Who did this manipulative little brat think he was?

"Trust me, you will need someone someday. You can't always just only rely on yourself. And when that day comes, I will be there to help you." The blonde boy promised and then turned on his heel, leaving Rosalie alone in the empty hallway with his words hanging in the air.

She didn't like what he was saying. She truly didn't. People didn't deserve to have relationships based on fakeness, so paper thin a breath could blow them over. But as time went by, his words slowly began to make more sense. These people didn't really care for her for _her_ , but for themselves. So why should she feel bad about treating them like trash? After all, even the relationship, the only true friendship she had ever thought she had, turned out to be built of glass. Fragile and reflecting only her own desires and one sided thoughts, it never truly showed Bella and what she thought of the relationship.

And when the day arrived that Rosalie needed help, she begrudgingly took the blonde haired boy's offer of help. From then on they were friends. And she did what he did and took advantage of the countless worshipers throwing themselves under her feet. She would use them to get what she wanted, just like they were using her to get what they wanted. After all, foundations were built on use and abuse. Just take her parents relationship. They both hated each other but stuck together for the money.

Rosalie zoomed through middle school like this, gaining a lot of popularity and even more admirers. Together with Jasper, she founded a cool kids group. It was how Edward came to join their ranks. A new transfer student in the last year of middle school, but already cocky and suave thanks to his generous looks and amazing voice, he fit right in with them.

Somewhere along the way Rosalie secured several modeling contracts and she went off on shoots, raking in cash and adding even more prestige to her already glamorous aura. She grew arrogant in her looks, in her ability to twist and manipulate others to her needs. She learned how to disparage others, how to make a fist and have it connect to someone elses face. For keeping at the top of the chain came with its perks but also with its hazards. And now that she had tasted fame, understood what it meant for her, she was willing to keep it, even if it was all superficial and wouldn't mean shit once she turned thirty. Because it was all she had, and if she lost this world then she would lose herself no matter how much of a terrible person she had become.

When high school arrived, she and Jasper and Edward ended up entering the same high school, the only high school in Forks. There they quickly made their way up the ranks, gathering Alice and Emmett on their way up. The two provided an interesting addition to the group. Alice with her sweet looks but conniving mind, and Emmett with his big muscles but kind interior. They all knew they were only 'friends' because of the perks each person had. Rosalie had her modeling contracts and access to high end parties. Emmett had his football games and an inheritance to his dad's car company. Edward had his fame from his youtube channel for his voice and the record label company that his mom ran. Jasper had money from the oil companies and his roles as a small time actor in a TV show that was large in Forks. And Alice had her fashion company, which she operated alongside her older sister. All of them had looks and most notably money. And they used the perks that came with being associated with one another to further their own ends. For that was what they had all agreed upon. They were only kind to each other out of necessity and not because they actually liked each other. For Rosalie knew they really didn't care for her too much. She was abrasive and rude and always getting fed up with their stupid shit first. She knew she was the least liked in her group but she didn't really care.

They could all live together and rent out their own house, and she would live in her house with her parents. She couldn't stand to be around such fakeness for too long or she would burst a blood vessel. She needed to be alone with her thoughts. With those dreaded feelings of emptiness and unfullfillment. For no matter how many 'friends' she made, or how much money she earned, or how many times she saw her face on the TV or billboards, she always felt like it was never enough. Like it didn't matter, because she didn't have anyone to actually care about these achievements. Sure, she could tell the group, but then that would only be bragging; proof to show that her friendship was still worth keeping.

She couldn't even really tell her parents. They were never around, having escalated to that point in their relationship where they couldn't stand to be around each other in the same location for more than a few hours. So if one was home, then the other wasn't coming back for a while. Most often it ended up that neither of them were home at all, too busy wrapped up in extramarital affairs that they took no pains to hiding. Her father had another kid with another woman, and her mother was taking care of the kid of the guy she was dating. They rarely checked up on Rosalie, feeling she was grown enough to take care of her own self.

Which Rosalie was...but still. It would have been nice to know she was loved.

Half of Rosalie's Freshman year passed this way. With her and her friend group coming up with new ways to stir trouble up in the community. In fact, that had mainly been Alice's idea. She was a restless one and mischievous and she wanted to do crazy things. And the group all jumped on board with it, even Rosalie, for what else were they to do in this piss boring town? But the schedule that Rosalie's life had fallen into got a rude jolt when the new student transferred in.

Her name was Bella.

And she had brown hair and brown eyes and her face was as kind as Rosalie remembered.

When Rosalie first saw her, standing in the office picking up her papers, she couldn't believe her eyes. This was her, the girl all those years ago that she had played with. It had to be. She had the same twinkle in her eyes, and the same way of her cheek dimpling when she gave a smile. But how could it be her? She had left, left all those years ago. Left without a word.

Rosalie just sat in the office chair where she had been waiting to get scolded at by the dean, her eyes never leaving the brunette, taking in her presence greedily. She didn't know what to make of this. Maybe it was a different Bella? It could be. It would make more sense than Bella suddenly coming back after all these years. Would she even remember Rosalie? Would she?

Rosalie wanted the girl to turn around, to see her. But Bella kept her body turned, only the side of her face visible. She had filled out nicely; curves where once there had been angles, her low v neck shirt hinting at an ample chest and her skinny jeans hugging her hips. Her skin was pale and flawless and her lips were a rosy color. How many times had Bella kissed her on the cheek with those lips before? Too many times but not enough. Rosalie wondered how they would feel now.

Bella was laughing at something the office lady was telling her, her laughter just like what it had been as a kid, but deeper and more melodic. It brought back nostalgia and it made Rosalie's eyes water with unbidden memories. Memories of that one summer. The summer that changed everything. She wanted to open her mouth to speak, to call out Bella's name but her words failed her, and as the brunette picked up her things and went on her way, Rosalie's hand rose up as if she was going to try to grab up her but she stopped herself in time. And then Bella was gone, melting into the student body that chattered and hovered in the halls.

Bella was back.

And Rosalie didn't know what to do.


	17. Chapter 17

**A Bad Deal?**

 **A Devilish Plan  
**

 **A/N: This chapter originally was supposed to be a bit longer, but I figured since I haven't posted anything up in like four weeks, I might as well get this up and work on the rest later.**

Bella's plan to befriend Rosalie worked splendidly. It was almost amazing how easy it really was once she got started. The blonde did have her thorn barriers to overcome, ones that were super sharp and hurtful if not avoided properly, but ones that Bella had quickly learned to navigate around. Once she had skillfully evaded those, she was able to get to see and understand more of the person Rosalie was underneath. And the blonde's personality slowly unfurled like the petals of a blooming rose.

It wasn't some rapid sort of shift in their relationship paradigms- that couldn't realistically happen. They were still awkward around each other at the start, it being a sort of cat and mouse game, waiting for the one to slip up and reveal the true intent behind the act. Rosalie was mistrustful of Bella's motives despite the girl trying her best to portray an innocent front. But Bella wasn't going to give up. She was going to constantly pepper the blonde with kind actions and friendly support until she could finally break down those thorn barriers completely rather than just deflect them entirely.

And it was beginning to work. It had been only three weeks since they had first created their alliance in taking down Alice, but already Rosalie was treating Bella more of an equal rather than someone to be looked down upon. She began to confide more in the brunette and they hung out a lot at the blonde's mansion after school.

"How about we find Alice's private diary and make copies of it and hang them around school, so as to embarrass her?" Bella suggested as she sat at the dining room table, Rosalie sitting in the couch and tossing up a ball into the air before catching it.

"Really? That's your grand idea? Who even keeps a diary in this day and age?" Rosalie snorted at idea. Currently the two of them were brainstorming ways into blackmailing Alice back for all she had done to the blonde.

"It was just an idea," Bella defended.

"A terrible idea," Rosalie amended and then shot Bella a teasing smirk to let the brunette know she wasn't being cruel. This was another thing that had changed. The blonde still made mean remarks but they were playful now. Almost as if she didn't want to say them but did so as a pretense because she was so used to spouting out abusive language. But because she really didn't want to offend Bella she would throw in a small quirk of her lips, or crinkle her eyes up as if hoping to convey with her body language what she couldn't with her words.

Bella guessed that working towards a common goal was making the blonde push aside her early disregard of Bella, and take her more seriously.

"Then do you have an idea? If you think mine is so terrible, come up with a better one."

Rosalie shrugged. "If I had a perfect plan, I would have already enacted it. As such, I got nothing." Her phone buzzed and she picked it up with her free hand, still throwing the ball up and down. She read it quickly, Bella wordlessly waiting for the blonde to finish so that they could continue their talk.

"It's from Alice," Rosalie said suddenly, the admission startling Bella. Was Rosalie going to share text messages now? What had the pixie sent her that could cause the blonde to divulge this information to Bella? Was it more blackmail?

"She's going to have a party."

"Oh," was all Bella could think of how to reply with, relaxing when it wasn't anything bad like she had thought it would be. "Do you think she wants to...I don't know, set you up again or something?"

Rosalie hadn't told her the truth about what had happened that night. All she would stress, over and over again, was that it had been a set up created by Alice in order to get dirt on Rosalie and knock her down a peg or two so she could take the top female spot in school, not that Rosalie even really cared about such things as who was at the top in the first place. She had never asked to be popular, she simply was.

"I don't know. Why would she? If she already got me the first time," Rosalie mussed. Then Bella got a text. She pulled her phone out and saw it was a message from Alice. It detailed party events, complete with emojis and exclamation marks.

"Whose that from?" Rosalie inquired and Bella waffled between either telling her, or making up a lie. She settled on the former, not wanting the blonde to be distrustful of her. "It's Alice," she admitted and Rosalie missed, the ball dropping to the floor.

"You gave her your number?" Rosalie almost hissed and Bella couldn't tell if she was upset or shocked.

"I had to," Bella defended, suddenly feeling hot and cold all over as if she had done something worse than robbery. "All your friends made me exchange numbers with them." Bella had been sitting consistently with the rich kids at lunch time now, establishing a sort of bad-ass reputation for herself among the lower tier students. They paid her respect now, for she had conquered the line that divided the rest of the school and the cool kids. She was almost like a superhero in their eyes. She found the concept ridiculous and the new attention it brought her annoying. She didn't want pesky groupies following her around.

But because she sat with the cool kids, they decided it was time to give her their numbers so that she could come to their 'parties and shit' as Emmett so nicely put it. She hadn't been in a position to decline.

Rosalie didn't comment further on this. She almost looked a bit taken aback, as if she hadn't meant to even raise this topic in the first place. "So, are you going to the party?"

"I guess I have to," Bella shrugged. She really wasn't a party person. But something told her she shouldn't reject Alice's party invites. Ever. "And if I go, maybe I can see Alice do something dumb while drunk and then use it as blackmail for your cause."

Rosalie considered this, leaning down to pick up her ball and begin playing with it again. "Alice doesn't really get crazy drunk, no matter how much I've tried to make her reach that point. But hopefully with both our combined efforts, we can make her trip up. Then we'll even the scales." With that the matter was settled.

And when the night of the party arrived on Friday, it changed _everything_ between Rosalie and Bella.


	18. Chapter 18

**A Bad Deal?**

 **A Night of Mischief  
**

The night of the party started off normally enough. Bella got ready for it by putting on a nicer flannel, a shirt and some black pants, slight excitement and anticipation rolling in her stomach. This would be her first party ever, and no less with the popular kids at school. Everyone was going to be so jealous when Bella told them. She could just imagine Jessica's face, eyes bulging and mouth hanging dumbly open when Bella showed her pictures of tonight. Of course, she was getting a bit ahead of herself. She hadn't even gone to the party yet.

Rosalie naturally did not look as excited. She'd probably been doing this for years.

"Are you ready?" she asked impatiently as Bella hurried down the stairs from her house, clutching her jacket to her as a chilly breeze blew by.

"Yes."

"About time. You took so long it's almost like you want to _miss_ the party," Rosalie snorted and got off from where she was leaning on the car door, waiting for Bella. It was hard to tell what outfit Rosalie was wearing because of her jacket but from what Bella could see of Rosalie's bare legs it was probably a dress. Or a short skirt. Either way her legs looked really good.

"Sorry, I was just...indecisive on what to wear," Bella stammered out quickly, hoping the blonde wouldn't read too much into the context of it and realize that that was because this was Bella's first time and she hadn't known what to wear. She knew parties like these required skirts and dresses but Bella had neither of those so she had to settle for something that would sort of be acceptable.

"Whatever. Just get in the car." Rosalie was acting tense and Bella wondered if it had anything to do with Alice. They had both made a plan of sorts that they would stick together and try to find some dirt on Alice, or in the very least help Rosalie sneak into Alice's room so she could delete some photos off of the pixie's laptop.

Bella hazarded a guess that that was where Alice kept the pictures of Rosalie and no doubt the blonde would want them gone. Bella was going to do whatever she could to help the blonde delete them. She knew too well how unsettling it was to have someone else have their hands on them, with the threat hanging over the head of them being able to leak them whenever.

The two of them got into the car, Rosalie pulling away quickly. "Everything's going to be okay," Bella tried to reassure her companion, shooting her a quick smile.

Rosalie merely tsked at this. "I don't know." Her fingers flexed on the wheel. "I just have a bad feeling Alice has something planned. And I don't know what."

"Maybe you're overthinking it. Alice doesn't always have to have it out for you," Bella mussed. She knew Alice looked innocent and sweet and that she necessarily wasn't but that didn't mean she was always out to cause someone harm or trouble. Rosalie was just overtly paranoid over the whole issue.

Rosalie grimaced this time. "You don't know her like I do."

"Well, maybe if you told me everything..." Bella trailed off pointedly, sighing at the end. She knew it was highly unrealistic Rosalie would automatically just relegate all of her secrets and truths and thoughts to Bella. Even if they were on friendly terms it didn't mean they were good friends, didn't mean Bella had the clearance or privilege to know.

Rosalie didn't respond to that and Bella knew what the wordless answer was anyways. It was no.

The rest of the ride to the party was spent in quiet. Even when they pulled up to the house, a beautiful white mansion as all the cool kids lived in mansions, it was quiet. Too quiet.

"Alice did say the party was tonight, right?" Bella frowned, wondering if there was some mistake in the text.

"Yes, she did," Rosalie also frowned. "Maybe...it hasn't started yet? But that's absurd. Her parties always kick off early. And it's already 10, way too late."It sounded like Rosalie was talking more to herself so Bella didn't respond.

Rosalie parked the car in the driveway right next to Emmett's black BMV, and some other fancy cars like a Volvo and Jaguar, her Mustang fitting right in. The two of them got out, ringing the doorbell and waiting patiently for someone to come get it. A butler showed up just as Bella wondered if anyone was even home, and let them inside, Bella sighing gratefully at the warm air indoors.

"The young lady is upstairs along with all the rest of her friends. Feel free to join her," the older man instructed before he walked briskly off to do whatever else he had been doing previously.

Bella exchanged a look with Rosalie who merely upturned her brows. Okay...so maybe Rosalie had been right to be sort of suspicious of Alice. Who sent a text about throwing a party and then didn't have one? Still, Bella tried to stay positive. There was no point to be worried. Or upset that she didn't exactly get to go a party despite being excited for it.

Rosalie led the way, shedding her coat and throwing it onto Alice's bed when she got to the room. Inside Alice, Emmett, Edward, and Jasper, were sitting on the floor in a circle, surrounded by bottles, beer cans, and solo cups. The room was surprisingly girly, walls and floor in shades of pink and furniture having way too many frills. The boys looked incredibly out of place. Even Alice did, her light blue halter top and black skinny jeans clashing horribly with the unicorns and princess decals on the wallpaper.

"Rosalie, you came!" Alice cried out, popping up in excitement, arms spread out in happy greeting.

"Where's the party?" Rosalie asked coldly, hands on her hips. Under her jacket she was wearing a red crop top and white skirt, both of which were on the extreme side of being short. Bella tried really hard not to stare at Rosalie's exposed stomach, but it was hard when it was so tempting to do so.

"And I see Bella has come too!" Alice ignored Rosalie's previous statement, jumping over to hug Bella tightly, who was not expecting such a warm greeting from the pixie. But the smell of hard liquor lingered over Alice, so maybe her enthusiasm shouldn't have been too unexpected.

"Yea, didn't wanna miss this event," Bella cleared her throat, as Alice was still holding onto her. Wasn't this hug going on for a bit too long?

"Alice, where is the party?" Rosalie almost growled out this time and finally Alice moved a bit back, although one arm remained slung over Bella's shoulder, holding her close. The blonde looked extra tense right now, her eyes tight and shoulders squared up.

"This _is_ the party," Alice shrugged happily, gesturing to the boys still sitting on the floor.

"That's it?"

"What's wrong, Rosie? None of us good enough for you anymore?" Jasper called out, taking a sip from his red cup.

"How you wound me!" Emmett pouted playfully.

"That's not it, I was just expecting a big blow out event-" Rosalie tried to defend herself quickly but Alice cut in.

"I usually do big parties, but this time I decided I only wanted to spend time with my close friends." At this Alice tugged Bella a bit closer to her and the brunette hoped fiercely she wasn't blushing. "Is there anything wrong with that?" Alice cocked her head playfully and eyed Rosalie.

 _Uh, there is, cause then we can't sneak in and hack your laptop_ , Bella thought internally but stayed silent.

The blonde met Alice's gaze and some emotion passed between them before Rosalie let a faux grin spread on her face. "Oh course there isn't. Let's get this party started."

"That's what I'm talking about, Rosie!" Emmett cheered.

Alice finally detached herself from Bella and sat down to join the boys, patting the space next to her, indicating Bella should sit there. Bella tried to catch the blonde's eye for what to do now, but Rosalie avoided looking at her and sat between Edward and Jasper who made space for her, the bronze haired boy handing her a pre-made drink.

Bella took her spot next to Alice, discarding her jacket on the bed along the way.

"So, what are we playing?" Bella asked, taking the cup handed to her by Edward uncertainly. She took a whiff of it and the strong smell almost made her eyes water. What was in here? She wanted to inquire but she felt like that would not be the thing to do with the cool kids. She didn't want them to think she wasn't cool enough to earn the right to party with them; that she didn't drink. Which she didn't, perks of being the chief's daughter.

"We were just waiting for you guys to come, but now that we're all here, we're going to play drunk Jenga!" Alice clapped her hands and slid out a box from under her bed. "Help me set it up, will you Bella?"

Bella nodded her head although she had no idea what this game was or how it was played. She figured she'd learn on the fly. While she helped Alice precariously stack the blocks on top of each other, Edward set up the music some edm tracks filling the air. He and the boys and Rosalie were drinking and talking to one another, waiting for the game to be set up.

"It's done!" Alice announced and garnered everyone's attention back to her. "Rosalie, why don't you go first."

It wasn't a suggestion so much as it was a disguised command. "You're damn right, I'll go first," Rosalie threw back her head haughtily, and carefully so as not to upset the balance of the blocks she pulled one out. There was something written on it in sharpie and she read it off. "Take a shot." Tossing the block aside, she held out her hand as Jasper passed her a full shot glass before inhaling it without hesitation.

And from there it was Edward's turn. Bella eventually got the hang of the game. Basically she had to pull out a block without making the wooden structure fall over and do the dare or truth that was inscribed. Most of them were simple like taking shots, or silly, like doing a stupid dance to a song. Bella thought she would piss herself from laughter as she had to watch Jasper strip off his top and gyrate on a wall to classical music.

She found herself taking too many shots, her head spinning after her fifth one. But she was having fun, her lips smiling unbidden as everyone got louder and more loose, screaming and cheering at each other over the dares and truths. She never thought she'd actually come to like spending time with the cool kids. Maybe they weren't all such assholes. Or maybe it was just the alcohol talking.

Whenever the Jenga tower fell, the loser had to drink a shot as penalty.

Already the tower had fallen three times, all of them Emmett's fault. "You know this isn't fair! I have fat fingers!" he protested, wiggling his big fingers in Alice's face as proof.

Alice tried to hold back her laughs at his distraught expression. "Too bad, Em, thems the rules."

He gave a fake huff and then chugged down the shot. He had taken so many, but given his big stature it was hard to get him drunk. The only indication that he had drank was his flushed cheeks and his too loud voice. Alice was on the same level as him, which was shocking. Despite her tiny frame she had been able to meet him shot for shot, only giggling more than usual. Jasper and Edward were having a harder time looking sober, their eyes glazed over and swaying slightly. Or maybe only Bella saw it that way. She was the lightweight out of all of them and she was trying hard to keep her vision straight.

Rosalie, however, seemed the worst out of all of them. The blonde had been plied with shots one after the other. She was having trouble keeping her head up right and had given up and taken to laying it on Edward's shoulder, her attention hard to grab. She seemed separated from the present moment right now. Bella was worried for her. She didn't want Alice to abuse the blonde's defenseless state into making her do something dumb. Bella decided she would keep her eye on her.

And so the games continued, Alice stacking up the blocks again. But this time, she used new blocks, taking them out from her box. "We need some new dares. No point in doing the same ones."

It was this that heralded the domino effect of the night, snowballing it from something pleasant to entirely dynamic shifting. To something that changed the relationship between Bella and Rosalie. Not that Bella knew it would do this at the time. If she had known, maybe she would have done things differently...

The blocks for this round of Jenga were substantially different. They were more risque, more grown up. The previous games had been mere warm ups. This game found people losing their articles of clothing quickly, found them kissing each other, and in giving lap dances. Bella had found her lap full of Jasper's and Emmett's butt several times, laughing as they tried to make their dance seductive.

"Something wrong with my moves?" Emmett had huffed playfully, pretending to be affronted.

"No, their very good. Very good," Bella had reassured behind her laugh.

"That's what I liked to hear," Emmett had smiled and taken to unbuttoning his shirt to add an extra step to his dance, grabbing Bella's hands and letting her fingers trail over his abs. This only made her blush. She had to admit his abs were well defined and if she was into boys she'd be all over him.

Alice got stuck doing a dare where she had to take off a guys shirt using only her teeth. That had been a riot to watch, Bella doubling over from how hard she chortled at the pixie's struggles.

"Stop moving!" Alice had hissed at Jasper who was also laughing, too much to hold still for her efforts. Eventually she got it off, and received a round of applause for her actions, bowing over dramatically, the shirt hanging from her teeth.

After her Jasper had to wear a woman's dress, Alice letting him borrow her's making him look completely ridiculous for it barely fit him, more like a shirt than a dress. Still, he rocked it proudly, even striking some silly poses for their amusement. Rosalie's turn was next and it saw her sliding her underwear down her legs and tossing it somewhere over her shoulder, all to the jeers of the boys. Bella tried to ignore the sudden dry mouth sensation at watching the blonde remove her panties very slowly and clenched her thighs tighter together. _Damn hormones_ , she half panicked and half chided herself, hoping no one would notice her sudden uncomfortable and slightly aroused state. Edward followed up with him prank calling a Domino's and trying to seduce the other person on the line, which admitably was going well until Edward couldn't hold back his laughter and ended the call before it became too obvious. Emmett ended up having to bench press someone, choosing to do that with Alice, the small girl squealing in delight as she got lifted up and down before Emmett finally finished his dare.

And then it was Bella's turn and with shaking fingers-for the tower was close to falling- she pulled out a block and nearly blanched at the words written there. _Kiss the person to your left_ , was written on it. The person to her left was Alice...Bella looked over at her uncertainly.

"What?" Alice asked, squinting at her. "What did you get that's got you so shocked?"

"I-"

Alice didn't wait for Bella to come up with some lie, with some sort of alternative. She snatched the block from her hand. She read it and laughed. "Come on Bells, don't be shy. We all know how you feel about the fairer sex. It doesn't bother me. I assure you."

"Still, I-" Bella stammered, feeling her cheeks heat up. She'd never kissed anyone before. She didn't know how to do it, or if she was going to be any good at it- and oh, looks like Alice was taking the imitative. Her small hands cupped Bella's face and tugged her close.

Warm lips meet shaking lips, and Bella's eyes shot open. She froze, unsure what to do, her hands curling in her lap. Bella's inaction didn't bother Alice, she just kissed more deeply, her mouth tasting of the rum she had been drinking. The sounds of the boys cheering them on faded from her ears as she fell into the soft and warm sensation. Her stomach churned pleasantly and she was aware that slowly her lips were responding to Alice's of their own accord. She forgot her embarrassment at her lack of kissing experience, Alice making it up for her. And then suddenly the warmth was gone.

Because Alice had been unceremoniously ripped off of her by a shaking Rosalie.

"That's enough," the blonde ground out, knuckles white where they clutched the back of Alice's shirt.

"Rosalie!" Jasper got to his feet as quickly as he drunkenly could, worried about a fight breaking out.

Emmett merely laughed at the scene before him, chanting "fight, fight," over and over. Edward was trying to get him to shut up, but the big man would just wretch his hands away.

"Something the matter Rosalie?" Alice casually looked up at Rosalie's fuming face.

Bella was still too wrapped up in the fact that Alice had kissed her to be of any use.

"Enough," Rosalie reiterated and then dropped her hold, sitting back down and crossing her arms over her chest, trying to keep her calm.

"Rosie, are you okay?" Edward asked in concern, stretching out a hand to touch her.

"Don't," she slapped it away and continued to glare daggers at Alice who had recovered, a sly smile on her face that she was doing a bad job of hiding.

"Aww, there was no fight," Emmett complained.

"I'll fight you if you want a fight that badly," Rosalie hissed over at him, reaching over Edward and grabbing a hold of Emmett's shoulder, the big man jerking away with a yelp. "I'm just joking. It's a joke. Sheesh!"

"You alright, Bella?" Alice asked the brunette, placing a warm hand on her knee. This brought Bella back to her senses and she felt her face flush. God, she had just been making out with Alice Branden and publicly. She wanted to bury her face in her hands. Then again, she was sort of proud. She got to smooch with one of the popular kids at school.

"Yea, I'm fine," Bella muttered when she realized Alice was still waiting on her answer, the pixie's fingers rubbing her knee now and making Bella's face more flushed. She didn't like how the smaller girl was looking at her-with too much interest. And her lips...Bella had to avoid them or else she would be reminded of how nice it had felt to finally kiss someone.

She had more or less been hoping to have her first kiss with Rosalie, but...well, things happened. It looked like the blonde would no longer be her first.

Bella continued to feel a bit unnerved when Alice's hand still didn't leave her knee, and Rosalie's eyes didn't leave Alice, narrowing down in anger. "Uh, the tower, it fell over," Bella pointed out, hoping to draw Alice's attention away.

The Jenga tower had fallen over in Rosalie's rush to get to Alice and the pixie finally took her hand away in order to rebuild it. "Looks like its a penalty shot for you Rosalie."

The blonde huffed, finally breaking eye contact with Alice and took the shot. And then another one, and another.

 _That doesn't look to be a good idea_ , Bella thought but she didn't dare say anything to Rosalie. The blonde still look pissed. And Bella had no clue why. Was she only trying to protect her from Alice? To keep the pixie from extorting from her like she was doing to Rosalie?

Bella didn't have much time to think about it, her brain too inebriated right now to draw much of a conclusion. All she wanted to do was continue having fun, and maybe kiss Alice again.

Damn it. Bella's hormones were being dumb again.

Maybe she should just excuse herself and go home before she made another dumb mistake that pissed Rosalie off.

But Bella wouldn't be getting that chance. The game was far from over. The Jenga tower was rebuilt and Rosalie was already drawing out a block. When she did, her eyes flickered upwards and to Bella's face, expression unreadable.

"Seven minutes in heaven with the person in front of you," she read.

Bella felt the breath leave her lungs.

Oh shit.

 **A/N: I'm super pumped for the next chapter. I think its obvious why ;)**


	19. Chapter 19

**A Bad Deal?**

 **Seven Minutes in Heaven**

The door was shut behind them, leaving them alone in the dark with each other. It was hard to see anything and Bella reached out with her hand to try to feel where the back of the closet was. It wasn't too big of a closet, with the feel of the clothes to her right hanging on their racks, and the occasional misstep onto a pair of shoes. She continued backing away, until her hand touched the wall and she leaned against it. She was aware that Rosalie was somewhere in the dark and she could hear the girl breathing. But when Bella tried to stare into the dark it swam around her, her head spinning and throbbing in time with the music that came from behind the closed door.

"Uh, Rosalie?" Bella voiced uncertainly, wondering what was going to happen now. They were supposed to be playing seven minutes in heaven and Bella would have loved to act on it, to kiss Rosalie, to run her fingers through her hair even if for a stupid game. Even if it didn't mean anything. But she knew the other girl didn't like her like that, even if they were somewhat friends at this time. "We don't have to do anything, if you don't want to. I know it's better if we don't. So let's just sit here. They won't know." Bella offered up, speaking to the darkness. Where was Rosalie? She spread her hands out and let out a gasp of surprise when they brushed something warm and soft. She quickly retracted them only to have Rosalie grab onto her hands. She kept them in the grasp of her own, intertwining their fingers together. It felt nice. Nice and warm and Bella's heart began to beat a faster rhythm.

"So you're saying you don't want to kiss because you don't think I'm a good kisser?" Rosalie slurred out, coming closer to Bella and banging her forehead against hers. Bella tried not to wince in pain. Rosalie's breath was warm and smelled heavily of alcohol.

"I didn't say something like that!" Bella cried out, not understanding how Rosalie would get that sort of idea.

"But you were making out with her!" Rosalie protested, a whine to her voice. She dropped Bella's hands and placed her own on the wall around Bella's head, boxing her in. Bella tried to push at the blonde's shoulders but she wouldn't budge. Bella was beginning to feel too hot, too caged in. It was too dangerous for Rosalie to be this close to her. It was making her hyper aware of how her lips were hovering nearby. The alcohol in her system was urging her to surge forwards but what little restraint she had she held onto. She wasn't going to make a mistake like that. She couldn't afford to. She knew Rosalie 'wasn't' gay and wouldn't appreciate Bella throwing her affections onto her.

"I was forced to make out with her! I didn't have a choice," Bella pointed out, wondering why the blonde was so obsessed with this point.

"You could have said no. You could have pushed her away."

"It was all part of a game, Rosalie," Bella said this time with exasperation. To be fair a part of her had enjoyed making out with the pixie, only because it was the first time she had ever kissed another girl, and such a hot one at that. She had been uncomfortable with it being public but she figured it was only a game, so she couldn't get judged too hard core for liking it.

"It didn't look like a game to me," she hissed out.

"Why is this bothering you so much?" Bella huffed out and once more tried to push the girl away by the shoulders but Rosalie didn't relent.

"Because she's a fucking bitch and she shouldn't be touching you!"

"No one is touching me except for you right now! I don't need this yelling at me for things that aren't my fault. So move!" Bella knocked aside Rosalie's left arm, meaning to squeeze away but Rosalie's hand went up and cupped Bella hard by the chin, dragging her face up to hers.

"Damn right no else will be touching you except for me," Rosalie growled out and Bella's stomach did a flip at her low tone. Did she sense possessiveness in it? Was Rosalie worried that Alice would ruin the two of their friendship and prevent the blonde from getting her due? Bella's confused mind only got more confused when Rosalie closed the already minuscule distance between the two of them and kissed her. It was soft and gentle and Bella stood there frozen, unable to breathe or move until it was over. It lasted for a couple seconds before Rosalie moved back, a sad chuckle on her lips. "See, I knew you loved kissing Alice more-"

"No!" Bella shouted out loudly, too loudly. Her brain had started working again and it was holy shitting over the fact that Rosalie, her crush of a year and a half, had just kissed her. Of her own free will.

The loud shout startled Rosalie who let her hand fall from Bella's chin. "What do you mean no?"

"I said no. I..." Bella stammered at a loss as what else to say. What could see say? She couldn't just blurt out that she loved Rosalie's kiss. Had longed for it for so long. And that it, even though it hadn't gone at all how she had fantasized a first kiss between them would, was still perfect in its own right. How could she say that?

"What Bella?" Rosalie asked impatiently, the blonde ending up pushing the brunette back against the closet wall.

"I...I...liked your kiss...more," Bella at last whispered out, feeling heat warm her cheeks. She looked away, too ashamed to look at Rosalie even though they could barely see each other in the dark.

There was silence except for Rosalie's breathing. When she spoke next it sounded weak and vulnerable. "You mean it?"

Bella nodded her head but then realizing the blonde wouldn't see it in the dark, said, "yes. I do."

"Then prove it," hung Rosalie's challenge.

"Prove it?" Bella echoed.

"Yes."

Rosalie could only mean one thing with that challenge. Swallowing nervously, and hands shaking, Bella let her fingers trace over Rosalie's face until she found where her jawline was. Tugging it closer to her own face, and thinking that this was utterly crazy, scary, and mind blowing amazing all at the same time, she kissed her gently.

It wasn't even a second before Rosalie kissed back, letting Bella lead. Bella could feel her heart soar and her stomach drop and everything seemed to disappear, all her worries and stresses and struggles melting away. They were all gone and in there place was warmth and fulfillment.

Perfection.

And the moment only got more perfect when the tip of Rosalie's tongue played at the seam of Bella's lips. Bella didn't even bother to self doubt herself or worry anymore about why Rosalie would be deepening the kiss. She just let things take their natural course.

She granted entrance and nearly moaned out loud at the touch of Rosalie's tongue against her own. They twined together slowly then faster until Rosalie sucked Bella's tongue into her own mouth. This time Bella did groan, clutching harder onto Rosalie's face. The blonde's hands traveled down to Bella's hips and held them in place as she pressed her body flush against the brunette's. Rosalie's skin was hot and she pressed hard as if she could somehow mold their bodies together. Bella felt like she might melt both from Rosalie's heat and the own heat growing in her.

Arousal was rearing it's head, shooting between her legs and making her stomach coil tightly in pleasure. Fuck. She still couldn't believe this was happening. It had to be a dream. It had to be. She was drunk and she had fallen asleep and this was what she was dreaming of.

She needed to breathe, to get her bearing back. And she couldn't if Rosalie's lips were on her own. She reluctantly pulled away, taking deep gasps of breath. "Rosalie-" she began only to cut herself off with a cry when she felt the tip of Rosalie's tongue trace teasingly up her neck tendon.

Fuck. What had gotten into Rosalie? Shit, this dream is too real. Bella tried to keep her eyes from rolling shut as Rosalie licked her way back up to the corner of Bella's mouth and latched onto it once more, stealing Bella's breath with how hungry her kisses had become. They were desperate and wet, the sound of their tongues battling and their lips meeting together sloppily filling the space around them. It was like Rosalie was trying to convey something to Bella. Was it the fact that she was a better kisser, cause holy hell, there was no competition in that department. Rosalie had left Alice's kiss behind in the dust centuries ago.

Bella could feel her knees getting weak and she was grateful that she was being held up right now by the wall or else she would fall. Her head was spinning and her hands had begun to roam into Rosalie's hair, tangling and pulling on the ends harshly.

Rosalie let out a low moan at that, the sound reverberating through Bella's mouth and translating into wet heat in the apex of her thighs. Shit, when had she gotten this wet?

There came a pounding on the door. "Guys, time is up!" Emmett announced. And with it Bella became aware of where she was and what she was doing and how this wasn't in fact a dream. But when she tried to pull Rosalie's attention back to the present it didn't work. Rosalie kept going, hands trailing up Bella's sides.

"Rosa-lie," Bella finally pulled her mouth free and they separated with a wet noise, both breathing hard.

Emmett was still knocking on the door. "You guys can come out now."

"We-we-we need to go," Bella stammered out, unable to speak as her brain slowly came back to earth.

Rosalie was quiet but then she backed away and Bella instantly missed the warmth of the other, missed the feel of her chest pressed on hers. "Rosalie?" she called out questioningly, wondering if the other girl was okay. But still the blonde didn't say anything, merely stalked over to the door and ripped it open, light coming in and blinding Bella momentarily.

"Stop hitting the fucking door, I heard you the first time," Rosalie snarled out at Emmett whose fist had been raised to hit the door once more.

"You were taking a while," he clarified as she shoved past him rudely, Bella trailing after her awkwardly. "What did you guys do in there?" he asked, waggling his brows.

"Uh," Bella flushed, unable to answer this. Did she want to tell others what had just happened? She felt if she did then the perfection of the moment would be lost. It no longer would only belong to her, it wouldn't be as special and unique anymore.

"We did nothing," Rosalie hissed out loudly. "But sit there until it was fucking over. You think I would want to do anything with her? Please, she's a fucking dyke and I'm not. She's disgusting, utterly repulsive!"

Bella was taken aback by the anger in Rosalie's voice. Was she...scared of people finding out what they did? "Yea, nothing," Bella quickly affirmed in a small voice, shaking her head for good measure.

"How boring," Jasper booed from where he was lounging against the couch, beer in hand.

"Shut up," Rosalie shot at him. "I did what you all asked, now leave me the fuck alone." With that she stalked off from the room like an affronted cat.

Bella didn't know what to make of this sudden change in demeanor. Everything had been fine in the room, almost dreamlike, and now cold clarity came crushing down over Bella that it had all meant nothing. Whatever Rosalie had been doing had caused her to regret it. Bella felt tears press at the corners of her eyes. Had she done something wrong? Was it her fault? Her emotions wobbled dangerously out of control as she shakily made her way out of the room too. She didn't know where she was going, it just had to be somewhere away from here. She couldn't stand to be around anyone else right now.

"Bella!" Bella could hear Alice calling out after her but she kept going until she found an open door. She pulled herself into the room, throwing herself face first into the covers on the bed there. Then she let the floodgates open, her tears staining the sheets as her hands curled into them. She was crying for a solid two minutes before anyone came over.

"Bella. Bella, are you okay?"

Bella jerked her head up, noting through her blurry vision that someone of small stature had entered the room. "Alice?" She had sort of wished it had been Rosalie, come to apologize for her vile words, and explain her amorous actions.

"Bella, are you okay?" Alice sat down on the bed next to Bella. "What happened? You can tell me." Her face and voice were so soothing and so trusting, that Bella wanted to tell her everything. But she couldn't trust Alice. The pixie was being a bitch to Rosalie. But then again, Rosalie was being a bitch to Bella right now. So what did Bella care if she blew Rosalie's secret? Alice already knew about the blonde's questionable sexuality. Bella just felt like she needed to talk to someone about this because it was hurting her so much, how Rosalie had been so soft and caring and then turned cold and mean the next second, almost as if ashamed of Bella.

She sat up and faced Alice. "Rosalie- Rosalie was a bitch to me," Bella blubbered out, rubbing at her wet eyes with the backs of her hands.

"That's nothing new," Alice smiled wryly as she began to rub Bella's leg in comfort. "But what happened in that room?"

"She-she kissed me. And so I kissed her back and then she acted like nothing happened when we left. I thought my feelings got out to her," Bella sniffed, missing the flash of conniving emotion that entered Alice's face.

"You like Rosalie?"

"Yea. For like a while now. And I thought she liked me too, because she kissed me, but t-then it was all an act."

"It's okay, Bella. It's going to be all okay," Alice lowered her voice and pulled the sobbing girl into her arms. "Rosalie likes to play games with people. And she's been so mean and cruel to you this whole time. She doesn't deserve you."

"I know...but I still like her," Bella admitted as her sobs began to calm down and she returned the hug she was in, inhaling Alice's warm scent of peppermint. "And it hurts when she builds up my hope and then shatters it."

"I know. I know," Alice whispered soothingly, rubbing Bella's hair. "But I know something that might make you feel better..." Alice pulled Bella's face up to her's and kissed her gently. Bella's eyes fluttered shut at the kiss. She didn't like Alice like that, and she knew the pixie was technically the enemy, but right now she didn't care. The kiss felt nice, it made some of the pain in her heart leave. She wouldn't mind becoming completely numb to more of the pain.

So when Alice began to kiss down Bella's neck, Bella let her do it.

And when Alice pushed her down onto the comforter, Bella let her do it too.

 **A/N: I swear this ending is actually beneficial to Rosalie's and Bella's relationship, cuz than maybe someone, won't name any names,- Rosalie-, will get their butt in gear and stop being so mean to Bella.**


	20. Chapter 20

**A Bad Deal?**

 **Gates of Hell Have Opened**

Bella awoke the next morning, disoriented. Her head was throbbing and her body ached as if she had just been through a work out. On that thought her face flushed as she realized she had been through a work out, but of the sexual kind. She sat up, her heart beating in her chest like crazy.

 _Holy fuck, I slept with Alice Branden._ The _Alice Branden. And she slept with me. Oh god. Oh my god._ Bella couldn't believe what had happened last night. And she hadn't been too drunk that she didn't remember it. No, she had been just drunk enough to make rash choices.

Not only had she had her first kiss last night, but it was also her first time sleeping with someone. She legit went from zero to one hundred. And now she didn't know how to feel about herself. On some level she was proud. She had scored with Alice big time, and she was now more of a grown up. But she was also ashamed. Disgusted for letting Alice do that to her. She had played right into the pixie's hand and there was no telling if she was going to use this as leverage on Bella.

There was no reason she should, after all Bella hadn't done anything to her. But there was no telling what was going on in the pixie's mind. And the worst part hadn't been that she had slept with Alice- although to be fair, it had felt so good. The touch of her experienced hands, her soft soft lips and the way she had made all of Bella's float away...was just magical. It made her feel complete. And loved. Especially when Alice had pulled the covers up and around the two of them after Bella had finished climaxing.

Then she had cuddled up to Bella's naked back, pressing a kiss to Bella's neck. She hadn't even asked for reciprocation. Alice must have left sometime after all that, for the sheets were long cold where she had laid.

And in the pixie's warm hold, she had forgotten how hurt she had been by Rosalie's actions. And it was because of Rosalie that Bella had slept with Alice. The blonde had made out with Bella during the game seven minutes in heaven. Bella had felt indescribable hope in her chest. Had felt so happy. And it had all come crashing down as soon as the game had ended. And Bella had been reminded that that was what that moment had been-all just a game.

And it hurt. Hurt so bad.

She knew Rosalie was in conflict with her sexuality but it was no excuse to kiss Bella senseless and then leave her cold and alone. Rosalie had seemed so disgusted when she had left the room-was Bella really that bad? Had she merely been delusional? Was it best to forget about Rosalie?

She sighed. Everything was a mess now. Her feelings were a mess. She felt like a mess.

Deciding she needed to get herself together, she left the bed, shivering in the slight chill of the morning. She had slept naked, her clothes tossed all over the place in Alice's haste to get them off.

Bella felt a stab of arousal as she thought back to how Alice's eyes had gone dark with lust. She looked like she really wanted Bella. The question was...how would she behave about it now? Would she reject her, pretend nothing happened like Rosalie had?

Bella didn't think she could stand that. Didn't think she could live with being used like that. But she would have to face reality sooner or later and she might as well do it looking decent.

She managed to find everything but her flannel and wondered if she had left it somewhere else. Then she made her way over to the adjoining bathroom and washed her face and teeth and brushed her hair into something resembling normalcy. Her head still hurt from her hangover, but she figured she could take a pill for that when she got back home.

Then, feeling slightly less gross, she left the room the house silent. She wondered if everyone had left. She wondered where Rosa- _stop it, I will not be thinking of her._

Her rejection had really hurt.

Bella managed to find her way over to the kitchen, hoping to get some water before she left. She didn't even know how she would get back. Could she ask Alice for a ride back? Bella had gotten here in Rosalie's car, and there was no way she wanted to go back with her.

Filling up a glass, and marveling at the state of the art kitchen (really, did Alice need _three_ coffeemakers?) she took to sipping on it slowly and trying not to think about how mortifying it would be to see Alice again. Would the pixie treat this as a one night stand?

And wait a second- wouldn't this make Alice gay, or bisexual in the least? Wasn't that contradictory? Wasn't she bullying Rosalie for this same reason? Could Bella use this information to blackmail Alice for Rosalie? Hmm...but Bella wasn't feeling particularly beneficial to the blonde right now. She had done shitty things before, but messing with Bella's feelings was something else. It was too much. She could stand getting punched, she could stand the stupid things Rosalie had her do, could stand being yelled at, but she couldn't stand having her romantic feelings trampled on.

It cut too close to what had happened in Phoenix and there was no way she was going to go through all of that all over again. She had promised herself she wouldn't let it happen. That she would be better than that. That she would treat herself well.

" _You, love me?" a voice scoffed, rich with amusement and disgust. "Please, as if I could ever love your nasty dyke ass."_

 _Mortification flooded Bella's body._

 _"But I thought you returned my feelings- that you liked me. Otherwise I never would have said anything," she feebly tried to explain only to have the sound of ugly laughter fill her ears._

 _"You assumed that my kindness was feelings for you?"_

 _"But...but you held my hand and you kissed my cheeks and you," Bella was rambling on and on, but she was too close to tears to stop. If she did then she would cry._

 _"Friends do that. Friends can hold hands. Friends can kiss cheeks," the redhead snarled viciously on the word friends, causing Bella to flinch back. "It's not my fault your stupid dyke ass thought that meant more."_

Bella had been too deep in her thoughts to notice that someone else had arrived in the kitchen.

"Bella."

Bella jumped at having her name called, and nearly dropped the glass in her hand before catching it and swiveling around to see-

"Oh. It's you." Bella couldn't help but feel and sound bitter at the sight of the blonde in front of her.

Rosalie's slightly hopeful face fell a bit at the tone. "Look, I-I, uh-well," Rosalie was stumbling over her words; whatever it was she wanted to say was clearly giving her trouble. And if Bella hadn't been so curious to hear what it could be that was making the blonde struggle so much, then she would have left.

"What, Rosalie?" she cut in irritably.

The blonde seemed a bit taken a back by Bella's sharp tone if the widening of her eyes were any indication. "I just wanted to say-uh, that, my behavior last night-I don't really recall much and-"

 _She didn't remember?!_ Bella felt like she would burst a blood vessel. How fucking convenient. Clearly Rosalie didn't care as much about the make out session they had. Which stung. She had wanted Rosalie to care. Had wanted her to like her back.

Bella should have known that was too impossible to ask.

Before Rosalie could continue, Alice's loud voice cut her off. "Good morning!" She strode past Rosalie into the kitchen, wearing nothing but Bella's flannel buttoned up lowly, revealing her collarbone.

"My flannel," Bella breathed out, happy to know it hadn't gotten lost. It was her best one.

"Yes, yours," Alice hummed, pressing a kiss to Bella's cheek. "It's very comfortable." She stared at Bella's neck. "Oops, looks like I left a hickey." She poked Bella in the neck where it was located, the brunette having missed it. "Do you think it's visible Rosalie?"

But the blonde was already gone, having disappeared.

"Huh. Wonder where she went so quickly," Bella was a bit shocked. Why had Rosalie left so quickly?

"I don't," Alice said in a low tone of voice before she circled on Bella, grabbing her by the front of her shirt. "You seem to owe me something from last night, if you know what I mean," Alice licked her lips before leaning in.

This time Bella dropped her glass.

* * *

Bella wasn't entirely sure what the heck was going on anymore. Ever since that party, Alice had been treating her differently. She had been even more touchy feely with her in public and once they were out of the public eye...well, things tended to get steamy. Alice would push Bella up against walls, make out with her in secluded corners and Bella sort of just let it happen. She had decided she was going to get rid of her crush on Rosalie, and while she was using Alice it was fine, because Alice wasn't a perfect little angel. And Bella was pretty sure Alice was only using her, but for what, the brunette hadn't figured out yet.

But it was hard to think of the reason if Alice was busy using her mouth. And eventually Bella stopped trying to think so hard. She didn't carry feelings for Alice. This was all about becoming numb. And Alice helped her achieve that. And because she was so busy being numb, it took her a while to notice something.

"Where's Rosalie?" Bella asked the boys as she sat down to join them for lunch. Alice was sitting next to her, rubbing her ankle with her foot while she pretended like she wasn't doing anything.

All of them shrugged.

"Could be a fashion shoot. She hasn't been on one in a while, so it wouldn't be anything new if she went to one," Jasper offered.

"But so suddenly? And without a word to anyone?" Would Rosalie truly not say anything to her friends if that was the case?

"It wouldn't be too odd for her to do. She's not exactly the friendly type," Edward said.

"It's been too weeks though," Bella added, as if this piece of information would provide anything new. "Do fashion shoots take this long?"

"Sometimes," Jasper said, looking almost annoyed by Bella's continued pursuit of the topic.

"Don't worry about Rosalie. I'm sure she's busy, laughing and drinking it up with models in Paris." Alice gave Bella a smile and the brunette finally relented. It seemed like no one was really bothered by this, but Bella. She wondered if their lack of concern reflected poorly on them, or if they simply were used to Rosalie's behaviors and didn't think too much of them.

But by the time it was the fourth week and Rosalie still hadn't come back to school, Bella got really worried. The blonde wasn't answering any of her texts, or her calls, and she knew that the blonde would have otherwise, for there was never any reason for her to ignore Bella before. And Bella knew something must have happened to make her not come to school. There was a chance that it could be a fashion shoot, but now that Bella thought back to it, Rosalie had disappeared after Alice had shown up wearing Bella's clothes after their one night stand.

Had Rosalie gotten upset that Bella did that? Did she see it as the brunette having betrayed her? Going back on her word and sleeping with the enemy when they were supposed to bring Alice down? But then why would Rosalie be so upset about this, assuming that this was why her long absence had first started. Surely she would instead taken to yelling at Bella and not ignoring her. Bella didn't know but she wanted to, so she drove over to Rosalie's house one day after school.

She found the usually pristine lawn covered in garbage, the front door unlocked and wide open. But what was even more concerning was the state of the inside of the house. Clothes, designer clothes that looked to be Rosalie's, were tossed around on the floor. Bella felt the breath catch in her throat. Had Rosalie's place been ransacked?

Paintings on the walls slashed, vases and lamps smashed to pieces. What the hell? Had the invaders hurt Rosalie too? Was that why she was gone? Bella felt slightly sick and she kept a hand over the pocket which held her phone in case the intruders could still be here.

"Hello?" she called out cautiously, wondering if she was being stupid in calling out because that was a typical horror movie mistake to do. It attracted the monster more often than not. But there was no monster, only a girl, sitting hunched against the wall of the ruined living room, an empty bottle of Grey Goose next to her. Her head was buried in the crook of her elbows.

"Rosalie?" Bella gasped out, tentatively.

What had happened?


	21. Chapter 21

**A Bad Deal?**

 **Seduction of the Youth**

 **A/N: Third part of the Rosalie POV. I think I only have one more part to go unless I decide to add more somewhere along the way.**

She wanted to go talk to her. She didn't want to go talk to her.

She wanted to go hug her so hard that she would never let go again. She wanted to go punch her so hard her teeth would break.

She wanted to cry at the sight of her; tears of joy that would spill out of her eyes like rivers. She wanted to cry at the sight of her; tears of anger trailing hotly down her cheeks.

She wanted to...she wanted to...do something but she didn't know what. She was upset, happy, but mainly confused. After all this time, Bella was back. And Rosalie didn't know how to deal with this.

On the one hand she was happy because finally after all this time, after all the longing she had locked away in the coldest part of her heart, the brunette was back. They could be friends again. They could laugh and hang out to their hearts content. And Bella would listen to all of Rosalie's woes and smile and hug her, and kiss her on the cheek until her skin would flush and she would feel better.

But on the other hand she was angry. So, so angry and bitter. Bella had left her, had thrown away their friendship without a single care. She had made Rosalie sad for so long. Had made her distrust others. She wanted to hurt Bella. Wanted her to hurt like Rosalie had hurt. Bella deserved it in the very least.

But the worst part of these two parts of her that kept trying to tear her apart was the fact that Bella didn't seem to remember Rosalie. And that hurt her. Hurt her all over again. It was foolish to be troubled by that; it had been years, about ten years, and so many things had happened in between then. But the fact that there wasn't even a sliver of a recognition in her honey brown eyes made Rosalie unbearably sad. And so what did she do to deal with all these emotions that were tearing her apart? She picked on others. She began to pick on others, to share her pain with them through fists. For she didn't have anyone to share words with. Her friends couldn't know about this weakness of hers; they would only exploit it. And her parents were in a different part of the world right now. So she had no one, save herself and the demons that visited her at night.

She tried to keep Bella out of her thoughts, but the girl kept weaseling her way back in. Rosalie wondered how she was now; what her hobbies were, what she liked to eat, if she still visited that creek, and mostly, why she had left and was now back. She fantasized running into Bella and becoming friends with her again, with seeing her smile and feeling her soothing touch. But another part of her destroyed those happy fantasizes, calling for blood and vengeance, to make the brunette repent for her crimes.

Rosalie was only so lucky she didn't have Bella in her classes, for thoughts of the other tormented her at night and they would only follow her into the day and distract her class work if Bella sat anywhere in the room. But a part of her wished Bella was in her class so that they could work together on a project and somehow get reacquainted. Really, Rosalie felt so pathetic, so useless, and unable to get her thoughts back in order. The brunette plagued her mind every moment. It was like the sight of her had opened up so many things inside the blonde that she hadn't known she had had bottled up.

One of them being lust.

Rosalie hadn't ever really cared for dating. She would hook up with guys and then be done with them after the third or fourth date, none of them really arousing more than a light interest in her. No matter how big their muscles, or how shiny their cars, or how nice their teeth and the words that came from behind them, she was oft unimpressed and uninterested. She figured it was always because she hadn't met the right one yet and just enjoyed mindless indulgence in dating various super models and actors.

But it wasn't until _that_ incident that she knew why this was. And it was all Bella's fault. It had happened during a shared gym class. The school had let the students out, seeing as it was a nice day, and organized an event that would let all three gyms classes interact with one another in a set of challenges such as a racing track, or tug of war. Rosalie found them no trouble as she was very fit. She had easily been nominated by her class to be their representative and was glad to fulfill the role as it would keep her occupied and mind off of Bella and how damn nice those shorts looked on her legs. Bella had been the one to bring around giant jugs of water to quench their thirst that day, running back and forth with her heavy load. The poor girl didn't seem to be much of an athlete.

Rosalie rarely let her eyes trail over to Bella, figuring if she ignored the girl, the problem would just go away on its own. Yet, she still desired to met the girl, desired to be cruel to her, to be nice. But on that day, she let her eyes pivot to her, figuring it would be safe to do so since there were so many people around that were too wrapped up in their own conversations and she wasn't in danger of getting caught staring. Of course she had chosen the wrong time to look, for Bella had unceremoniously tripped and upended the jug of water on herself just a couple feet away from Rosalie. She was so clumsy it was cute.

When she had managed to pick herself up with the aid of a nearby boy, she frowned in disappointment when she saw the whole front of her shirt was wet and clinging to her body. Fork's high gym clothes were white with red trim and a wet white shirt revealed everything. Rosalie was able to see Bella's ample breasts through the fabric. Her bra, which had been white, also failed to be discrete with what it was meant to hide.

Her eyes unabashedly followed the curves all the way to Bella's nipples before she could help herself and she felt such a bolt of arousal between her legs that she let out a huge gasp. She spun around and clamped a hand over her mouth, shocked at her own self. It had been so sudden she had been caught off guard. Never had she ever felt this before. What was going on? Why was she feeling this way? And for a girl of all people! Specifically Bella, who had hurt her!

She swallowed shakily and tried to push the incident out of her mind, instead focusing on the tasks to occur, but she couldn't ignore it forever. When she got home she plopped down on her couch and let her thoughts roam back to that moment, wondering how it would feel to let her fingers trail over those mounds, how it would feel to let her mouth do the touching instead. Warm fingers of arousal swam through her blood, frightening her at the same time it made her head cloudy.

What was going on? Was she...gay?

But that couldn't be the case!

She liked guys. She just hadn't met the right one yet.

She shook her head to free herself of such thoughts. She wasn't gay. She couldn't be. But just to make sure, she'd never look at Bella again.

Rosalie somehow managed to make it through those last hellish months of her first year of high school by ardently avoiding anything and everything having to do with Bella. Summer was arriving and with it more modeling work for Rosalie.

It was also the summer that she finally had to face reality.

She wasn't straight.

No matter how hard she wished she was.

The summer up until that point she had been having a blast with. There had been parties, bonfires, tanning and drinking, making out with hot dudes, and sexy rides up and down town in expensive cars. Not to mention a wicked amount of modeling contracts for Rosalie, all which let her travel to France or Italy. She was raking in the big bucks, having a hell of time seeing and experiencing new things, and she was getting more independent. She was entering the world of adulthood and she loved it. She felt powerful and smart and beautiful (definitely beautiful as everyone so loved to remind her every chance they got) but something wasn't sitting right with her. And it hadn't, the whole summer. Which bummed her out. Because she had tried to push the concern to the back of her mind but it kept bouncing out to the forefront in her more quiet moments, when it was just her and her thoughts.

It frustrated her to no end. Because these thoughts were ruining what she could otherwise call a perfect summer vacation. And she didn't know what to do about it, how to get them to stop. And her thoughts were something along the lines of _shit, since when are girls so alluring?_ The whole summer she had been trying to drown out her sudden interest in women by going and making out with a shit ton of guys to cover her feelings up. But no matter how many guys she ended up hooking up with, it was never enough. She couldn't stop comparing a guy's hard muscles to a woman's soft curves. A guy's short hair to a woman's luxurious locks. Thin lips to full.

She wanted to be with a girl, no matter how hard she tried to fool herself, the need was there and it was driving her mad. She didn't want to be gay; she couldn't be gay. In her position, as a popular girl and model, it would be her downfall, she was certain of it. So she had to get rid of these tendencies. She had to. But what her sober mind wanted versus what her drunk mind wanted, were two different things. And while Rosalie was good at keeping her emotions and desires stemmed, as after all in the modeling world, show a single ounce of weakness and they would eat you alive, there was even a limit for her. And it came one night during a party celebrating the last week of summer before school started.

Rosalie had dolled herself up that night, ready to have a good time and to forget her worries with her sexuality. She would make out with so many guys that she would never want to kiss a girl, or so she figured. In her heels and tight purple shoulder-less dress and curled blonde hair, she looked just like a Barbie. Her friends were also there at the party. Alice in a leather jacket, sporting a black bra underneath that doubled as a shirt and Jasper wearing a polo and boat shorts. Edward and Emmett had gone off somewhere deep into the confines of the basement in order to smoke some pot with the kid who was throwing the party, leaving the trio to finish off a bottle of Jack Daniels by themselves. They were already drunk and steadily getting drunker.

Rosalie could barely balance in her shoes and Jasper was stumbling over his words. Alice seemed less drunk than any of them but it was hard to tell. The night passed in a blur of noise and dancing and making out, and when Rosalie awoke next morning she found herself in the bed of the house she had been partying at. She had gone so hard, she hadn't even left.

Feeling like pins and needles were covering her whole body, and that a rock was sitting on her face, she got up, trying to fix the front of her dress which had been torn to reveal her bra. Luckily her phone was still in her bra. That was a relief.

But just what the hell had she done last night? Her heels were missing and her hair was a mess, all tangled up. No one else was in the room with her, so that meant if she had slept with anyone, they had left. She wondered who it was.

She made her way over to the door, her stomach rolling around. The rest of the house was a mess, plastic cups and spilled liquids on the floor as well as other unidentifiable puddles. There were some people sleeping on the couches but none of which were Rosalie's friend group. She wondered if they had already gone home. Not wanting to stay here any longer or continue searching for them, she made her way back to her house.

The first thing she did was shower, immediately feeling better; cleaner. A pill took care of the pain in her head, and as she got ready to go back to sleep fluffing up her thick white covers and the six pillows on her bed, her phone rang. She unlocked it to read the message that Alice had sent her. She slowly sat up as her face paled and her throat went dry. Alice had just sent Rosalie a picture of Rosalie making out with some girl. It was unmistakable. Rosalie caught in the middle of a passionate kiss with some brunette she didn't know but looked like someone she did know, their hands all over each other and bodies spread out on the bed Rosalie had woken up in this morning.

But that wasn't it. There was more. More photos, all of which Alice began to send in rapid succession to Rosalie. It was like looking at a fliporama, and with shaking fingers, Rosalie continued to scroll through, the girls in the two pictures progressing in their passion.

Rosalie was vaguely aware that her breathing was shallow and that a bitter taste had filled her mouth. She felt dirty; exposed. She wanted to cry, to scream, to have someone comfort her. Oh god, her secret desires had surfaced and Alice of all people had seen it.

Why had it been Alice? Why her? Why couldn't it have been one of the guys?

Her hand came up to her mouth as new text messages rolled in. All from Alice.

 **Would you look at all this. It turns out Fork's Golden Girl is actually a Libidinous Lesbian. What would the people at school think once they saw these photos?**

Rosalie knew Alice would resort to blackmailing her. Alice was power hungry. She may claim to be Rosalie's 'friend' but she wasn't and never was in reality. All she wanted was to be the top bitch at the school and now that she had finally found a fault in Rosalie's armor she was going to milk it for all it was worth so that she could become the head bitch at school, to be numero uno in the social scale.

Rosalie's stomach tightened as her fingers pressed down on her phone screen. What could she say? Could she convince Alice that she had only been doing this for fun? Could she make Alice delete these photos? **I was just** **having a bit of fun ;) A guy and I were planning on having a three way so he asked me to check my compatibility with this girl. If I had known you were watching, I would have invited you in.**

Rosalie sent that, chewing on her knuckles nervously. Anybody else would have been scared to challenge Rosalie like this; to even dare threaten to blackmail her. But not Alice. That little bitch was ballsy. She was a danger to Rosalie's popular kid status.

A reply came back mere seconds later. **Oh please, Rosie. As if that lie would work on me. This isn't the first time you've done it when super shit faced. You've even attempted to make out with me. Not that I said anything because I was going to keep this little secret for you.**

At those words Rosalie felt something bubble up in her throat. Disgust and fear. She made it to the bathroom just in time, retching dryly into the toilet. Oh fuck. Oh fuck she had screwed up. What had she been thinking making out with Alice? What was wrong with her?

She flushed the toilet and lay curled up on the cold floor of the bathroom. She could hear her phone going off with more messages but she couldn't deal with them right now. She just couldn't. Her body began to shake all over as tears pressed hotly at the backs of her eyes. She stuffed a fist into her mouth to stem the wails that threatened to come out.

She stayed on the bathroom floor until her limbs went cold and stiff, until the silent tears streaming down her face stopped. Only then did she finally compose herself and have the courage to face Alice's demands.


	22. Chapter 22

**A Bad Deal?**

 **A Mess of Things**

Bella had to call Rosalie's name three more times before the blonde stirred. She slowly picked up her head, her gaze unfocused. She looked dreadful, bags under her eyes and eyes bloodshot. Even her usually perfect hair was a wild mess.

"Bella?" she slurred out heavily, almost in surprise. She had been drinking and heavily if the empty bottle by her was any indication.

"Rosalie, are you okay? What's going on? Who did this to your house-" Bella began only to stop when she saw Rosalie was struggling to get up, one hand on the wall for balance. "Don't get up. You're drunk. You need to lie down and go to bed."

"Bella," Rosalie now growled out lowly. "You bitch."

Oh oh. Why did Bella had a bad feeling this was going to go south?

"Rosalie-" she tried to appease. "You're drunk-"

"How could you do that!"

"What-?" Bella furrowed her brows. "Is this about me and Alice?"

"Of course it fucking is!" Rosalie threw out her hand. "How could you fucking do that to me! How could you do that to me behind my back? I thought we had a deal!"

Bella sighed guilty. She supposed she owed Rosalie some sort of explanation. "I never meant it to turn out that way. It just happened, and I'm sorry it did and-"

"Are you fucking her?" Rosalie screamed out, making Bella flinch at the volume.

"I-"

"I said, are you fucking her?"

Did Rosalie know that Bella and Alice were still-? The expression on Bella's face must have said everything because Rosalie erupted into a fit of anger. She strode angrily over to the brunette, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Why are you sleeping with her? Why? Why pick her of all people?"

Bella began to back up in panic, trying to pry Rosalie's fingers off of her, but the blonde was too strong. Bella felt her back hit the wall and now she was pinned to it, the blonde hovering over her angrily. "Rosalie, calm down. Yelling will get you nowhere." Bella tried to reason, hoping the girl would snap out of her anger.

"You don't need her. You don't. I can fuck you better than she can."

Holy shit, did Rosalie really just say that? Bella felt arousal hit her sharply between her legs even through the slight fear she felt at the blonde's erratic behavior.

"Rosalie-!" Bella gasped out. "Stop this you're not of sound mind right now."

Rosalie didn't listen. Her anger had dispersed into something else now, her eyes flashing with need. She let got of Bella's shoulders, instead placing her hands on her hips, fingers pressing in possessively. "Why won't you let me fuck you better?" she whispered.

Bella knew her face was red, knew her heart was no longer pounding out of fear. She liked that suggestion- she very much wanted it to come true, but she couldn't do this. Couldn't let Rosalie jerk her around emotionally. Rosalie would do it, and then she'd push Bella away, be disgusted by her once more.

"Rosalie you are drunk and you don't mean it," Bella said sternly, trying to flush away the tantalizing images of Rosalie and her in bed, touching each other, kissing each other, cuddling together warmly.

"I mean it. I really do," Rosalie hotly whispered, bringing her mouth closer to Bella's ear causing the brunette to shiver at the touch. In her chest hope fluttered and she wished nothing more that it would be true. But it wasn't- it couldn't be. Bella wasn't going to delude herself with feelings for people who would never like her back.

"You won't be saying that later," Bella directed her hand to cup Rosalie's chin so she could stare the girl directly in the eye; as if this way the truth would finally sink in to her. "You'll only regret it later like you did at the party."

But Rosalie wasn't listening. Her eyes had half lidded and she had taken Bella's actions as an invitation. She crashed her lips against Bella's, teeth nearly knocking together. Bella's surprised yelp was lost, swallowed up by Rosalie's greedy mouth. The blonde's kiss was bruising, desperate and Bella left out a moan despite herself. No matter how much she tried to get rid of her crush, it was still there, leaving her desiring for Rosalie's kisses and touches.

Rosalie's hands came up to cup Bella's cheeks, her leg sliding in between Bella's. Bella initially jumped at the touch, not expecting Rosalie to be so bold. _Oh god, is she serious about sleeping with me?_ Bella realized with a hint of panic and exaltation. Shit, what did she do now? She didn't want Rosalie to do something while drunk. It would be wrong to let it happen.

With much reluctance Bella pulled her lips away, prying Rosalie's hands from her face. She had to hold them by the wrists so that the blonde couldn't move them back to where they were. Rosalie's chest with heaving and her cheeks were tinged with red. "Bella," she whined, pressing her leg in closer to the apex of Bella's thighs in an effort to resume their kissing when she couldn't use her hands.

"Rosalie, no," Bella said sternly, having to clear her throat at first. "I don't want to sleep with you. So I wont."

It took a moment for this to sink in and when it did, Rosalie looked devastated. As if her heart had been ripped out. Her eyes quickly filled up with tears that fell down her cheeks. She bit her lip to try and hold back her sobs but she couldn't. "Why are you like this? Why do you keep hurting me?"

"Uh." Bella was completely floored. She had never thought Rosalie capable of crying. Of not being a boss bitch. But here she was, wearing sweats, hair a mess, and utterly breaking down. What had happened? Was she overreacting because of the alcohol or had Bella truly done something wrong?

"You keep hurting me over, and over. Was it not enough before that you l-left me all alone a-after we swore to be best friends?" Rosalie's head had dropped down, hair like a curtain, covering her misery. Her hands shook in Bella's hold and the brunette unconsciously tightened her grip on them as if this could somehow help the blonde. "W-we had so much fun, and that s-s-summer was the best one ever, and then you left and didn't even say anything. I was so lonely and s-so upset. I hurt for so long. You were my only friend."

"Rosalie-" Bella could barely understand what the girl was saying through her sobs.

"And now you finally came back, and you didn't remember me. And that h-hurt too. Why didn't you remember me? Why? I h-had to pretend not to know you. I had to be mean. And I was mean. Because you hurt me. And I wanted to hurt you how you hurt me."

"Rosalie," Bella said the blonde's name softly now, feeling her own eyes fill up with tears. She didn't want the blonde to be in pain. She didn't want her to be sad.

"And now you've hurt me again. Now you're with Alice." Rosalie's wails increased in volume at this and she buried her head in Bella's shoulder. Bella wrapped her arms around the shaking blonde's shoulders and held her close as she continued to sob.

Bella was worried. Worried because some memory deep inside her was drawing up to the surface. A memory of a summer long ago where she had meet a pretty young girl by the river. A memory she had long forgotten until now.

She licked her lips, her mouth feeling dry. Her voice came out shaky.

"Rosalie, were you Rose?"

 **A/N: About time Bella remembers.**


	23. Chapter 23

**A Bad Deal?**

 **Where Angels Fall**

Bella stayed the whole day at Rosalie's house. She had to. It didn't feel right to leave the blonde alone in such a state. Bella had dragged the other girl up to her bedroom. Once on the covers, the blonde's tears and shaking had quieted down until at last she had dozed off into sleep. Bella had sat with her there for a good hour or two just to make sure she didn't throw up. When Rosalie seemed in the clear with that, Bella had gone downstairs and just...walked around. She didn't know what else to do. She knew she had to talk to Rosalie. It was high time they had a conversation. And not just any, but a meaningful one. Now that Bella's memories had been jostled, she vaguely recalled a young blonde haired girl with cherub cheeks and baby curls, and having spent some time with her.

Bella had blocked all memories of her childhood here in Forks. She had to.

She stepped on some glass as she paced around and hurriedly removed her foot from it, checking if any of the glass had pierced through her converse. It hadn't. Bella put her foot back down in a safer place and gave a look at the state of the house. It was a true mess. Maybe she should clean it up? Rosalie was out like a light and who knows how much time it would be before she woke. But Bella wasn't going to leave this place until she got answers.

So she began to fix up some of the damage that was minor. Like placing ripped pillows on the couches, cleaning up the glass and liquor bottles. Opening the drawn curtains to let some light in.

It was six pm when a huge thud came from upstairs, signaling that Rosalie had finally awoken. Bella made her way upstairs, tingling with nerves and hands sweaty. How would the blonde react to her now? Would she yell at her? Try to seduce her like last time?

Bella opened the door and found that Rosalie had fallen out of bed in a mess of sheets and pillows. She was currently cursing under her breath as she fought to untangle herself, back turned to Bella. She didn't know the brunette was here and Bella was silent as she watched the blonde struggle. Only when Rosalie had succeeded in freeing herself and turning on her bed did she see Bella.

"Shit!" The startled blonde jumped, placing a hand to her chest. "Don't scare me like that."

"How are you feeling?" Bella asked instead. "You had a lot to drink."

"I don't see why you should care," Rosalie tried to snarl back but there was no bite to her words. She looked tired and worn. Like an empty shell of her usual confident self. Self consciously she drew the blankets around herself and buried her head in it.

"I care about you, despite what you might think," Bella said softly as she took a step forwards into the room than hesitated. Took a deep breath. Swallowed deeply. "We need to talk."

Rosalie didn't answer.

"Please," Bella begged. Then she used the one word that the blonde could not resist. "Rose."

"Oh, so now you remember me, when it's most convenient," Rosalie said bitterly. She lifted her head up, eyes dead. Defeated.

"I truly forgot until you mentioned it-"

"Why did you forget?" a broken whisper. Rosalie's eyes could not focus on Bella's face.

"Because I had locked away everything from Forks, from my childhood here, so it wouldn't hurt." Bella knew she had to tell Rosalie her reasons, even if they might sound stupid or contrived. Because if she didn't tell the blonde them, then she might be lost to Bella forever, and Bella couldn't give up, not when she was beginning to get a sense of what Rosalie truly felt for her.

"I didn't want to move back to Arizona. I didn't want to leave all my friends here. All my good memories."

Rosalie seemed to be thinking this over. "Then why didn't you tell me when you were leaving? Why did you leave me in the dark?" Rosalie wasn't so much angry as she was disappointed and this was almost worse.

"I honestly...thought you wouldn't care."

"But I did. I cared so much. You're friendship meant so much to me then..." Rosalie sighed heavily.

"And now?" Bella tentatively voiced out, timorous.

Rosalie gave another sigh, followed by a sad laugh. "Fuck it, I already said some incriminating shit, I might as well tell you everything else. So that you can look down on me, and make fun of me."

"I'm not going to-"

"I love you. I'm in love with you. And I have been ever since I met you that day at the creek. But you hurt me when you left to Arizona without telling me. I was mad and upset at you for doing that, but I also missed you. A lot. It was hard for me to make friends, a true friend, who didn't just hang out with me for money and because they were forced to. You were different, you cared for me but not for the usual reasons. You cared for my feelings and opinions and you treated me like an equal. And then you took that away from me- took away the only friendship I ever had. You betrayed me." Rosalie's voice was wavering but it didn't sound full of tears, just bitterness.

"I had to get over that in the years following, but it wasn't easy. Just when I thought I finally let go of my resentment, you came back to Forks and all my pent up hurt and anger resurfaced and I didn't know how to act around you anymore. I wanted to be your friend. I wanted to make you hurt like you'd made me hurt. That's why I was so cruel to you for the longest time. Because I resented you. But I didn't really, because I just wanted to be your friend again in the very least. And this whole time I was conflicted and I didn't know how to act around you and I wanted you gone and I wanted you close to me and just...God," said in an exasperated sigh as Rosalie ran her hands through her knotted hair.

"It was enough to drive me mad. I didn't know what to do with myself. I decided maybe if I was extremely rude to you, you'd eventually drop out of the school and stop tormenting me with your presence. Because you didn't remember me. Not at all. And that hurt more than anything else. I wish I didn't remember you because then at least I wouldn't be hurt by your lack of recognition. But you were kind and patient and caring. Like you always fucking were. And you didn't fold under my actions. You came out stronger than before. And I couldn't stop from wanting to be your friend again. So I tried to be good to you. Tried to make us on the same footing. But then you did that thing with Alice. You fucked with her, you feel right into her trap. She's only using you to hurt me, Bella. And she won. Because knowing that you spent the night with her..." Rosalie swallowed thickly and bit her lip, fighting to keep her emotions back.

"It broke my heart. I ran away. And I stayed away. And I've been home drinking every night and day ever since. But I guess I deserved that. I was a bitch to you. For so long. For so damn long...I only wonder, if I had been nice to you that day we first crossed paths in detention, would things have turned out differently?" A pause, to collect strength for her voice. "So I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry for everything I've put you through."

Bella, who had stood frozen the whole time, mind whirling as she struggled to digest this, sat down on the covers next to the blonde, wrapping two shaking arms around her frame.

Rosalie loved her. Was in love with her. Had been for a while.

How could have Bella not seen this before? Not seen how much sleeping with Alice hurt her?

She felt stupid for not realizing Rosalie was Rose much earlier, but that hadn't been her fault. She couldn't control her memories. And hearing how much pain this thing had caused her- God, Rosalie had been in love with ever ever since then? That was incredible. Bella had nowhere nearly been in love with Rosalie for that long.

"Rosalie, I don't hate you. And I'm not going to laugh at you. Because I have a story to tell you too." Bella cleared her throat to begin her tale.

"When I started middle school in Arizona, I thought my biggest concern would be in making friends. I luckily had an easy time making some, but things began to go downhill when I realized I had romantic feelings for this one girl. Her name was Victoria and she was pretty. Long red hair, a tongue piercing, and that bad girl skater vibe going on that a lot of kids liked but only few could pull off. I didn't think of my feelings for her as wrong. My mom had raised me to believe that no matter between who, love was love. So I had no qualms in appreciating and accepting my sexuality, and it made me confident. Made me tell Victoria that I liked her when I had been foolish to think that she too had been raised to accept all forms of love."

Bella never told anyone about her past, even afraid to think of it in her own head. But she felt the need to tell Rosalie this. To ease her pain. And in a way, telling Rosalie all this felt right.

"When I told her, thinking that she might like me back, since we spent so much time together, she laughed at me. She sneered at me. And then she began to bully me. She would yells slurs at me, push and kick me in the halls. And she wasn't the only one who did it. She got her friends to do it too. I was soon too afraid to even go to school, coming home with bruises and ripped clothes. I tried to keep it hidden from my mom, but she found out and she took it to the school. Victoria got suspended from school for that. Along with her little friends. But because of their suspension, it only made them go harder after me.

"One night they came to my house when I was sleeping." Bella could feel Rosalie take a quick inhale at that, although she stayed quiet. "They tapped my mouth shut, tied me up, and did..." at this Bella quickly wiped away a tear that had streamed down her cheek. "Terrible things. They beat me up, cut me. Then went around my room and destroyed my things. Pissed on my clothes, ripped up my books, stole my money and games.

"After that, my mom decided we had to move houses. We did. But we both knew it wouldn't be enough to stop them. So we took legal action against them. And all of Victoria and her friends went to juvy for their actions. I was finally safe. But the damage had been done. I was traumatized, and no one in school dared to talk to me because they were afraid if they said one wrong thing they'd end up in prison as well.

"My mom and I both decided it would be best if I went to Forks to live with my dad. And I moved. But I had to go to counseling. I was too scared to go to school. So I took a year off before enrolling in Forks high. And that's where I met you for the second time."

Rosalie's shoulder's tensed, waiting for Bella's sharp words to fall. But they didn't.

"And it was love at first sight."

Rosalie picked up her head to shoot Bella an incredulous look, questions on her lips. Bella continued, not looking at the blonde but at the blank wall in front of her. "I was attracted to you. You also had that bad girl vibe going on that I so much loved. And you were pretty. I'm sound really shallow right now," Bella chuckled at herself. "I wanted to get to know you. So even though you were such a bitch to me, I didn't really mind because I got to be closer to you. But I wasn't going to stand around and take your shit either. That mishap with Victoria taught me that. But I wasn't going to use violence to stop you, but friendship. I wanted you to be my friend. So I was kind to you. And I had thought my kindness had gotten through. Had thought we were...something. But then that night when we kissed in the closet...it was both the best and worst night. I felt so stupid and silly for thinking my feelings had gotten through to you. That for some reason you liked me. But then you had done a complete 180 when we left, and I felt dirty, unwanted. Like I was your dirty little secret. And I couldn't take that. Because I could stand physical violence, but I wasn't going to let you hurt my feelings, wasn't going to let you make me regret being gay like Victoria had."

At this Bella let out a long sigh as if she had just poured her soul out. And in a way she had. She briefly closed her eyes and buried her face in the crook of Rosalie's neck. "So that's everything I had to say."

Slowly Rosalie's arms came up to circle around Bella's thin shoulders. "Thank you," she whispered.

"For what?"

"For...everything." Rosalie licked her lips, trying to find the right words. "For...being you. For being Bella."

And they sat like that just holding each other, taking comfort from finally understanding.

 **A/N: Finally got to this point.  
**


	24. Chapter 24

**A Bad Deal?**

 **A Hell of a Thanksgiving Break Part One**

 _A/N: Didn't mean to go on such a long pause but the ending arc for this story is coming up, and I had to take a break to come up with an appropriate ending for this fic. That said, it shouldn't be too long, 4-5 chapters depending on how I end up writing it._

It was ridiculous how simple everything was once they actually started dating. It was a bit rough at the beginning due to Rosalie's complete lack of knowledge on how to actually date but nothing that they couldn't fix with several outings and in depth discussions.

"You've never been on a date before?" Bella had asked incredulously. Rosalie was pretty and there was no shortage of men who wanted her.

"I have, but it's like...a cover. When we go back home we just fuck. So dating people has been mainly about fucking and not dealing with emotional bullshit, or trust and reliability and shit like that," Rosalie had confessed. "But I want to do right by you. I want to actually have a healthy relationship with you."

Bella was flattered by that. But she too was inexperienced. "I also haven't been on dates, or anything like that."

Rosalie smiled at that. "Then it looks like we're going to have to learn this together, one step at a time."

"I like that," Bella smiled as well. Now that all the angst was out of the way, along with all past grievances, they could move forward to a more promising future.

They'd started off with typical date stuff. Going to movies, eating out, making out furiously. Just like any normal couple. It was almost surreal that this was happening. It had only been a short time ago that they had been enemies, then tentative friends, and now they were dating.

The only drawback was that they had to hide their new relationship or else they would risk public ridicule. Neither of them was ready to come out, and it would be a while before they were, especially given where they lived and who their friend group was.

"Any ideas for our date tonight?" Rosalie asked from her giant kitchen as she closed the fridge with her hip, carrying two bowls in her hand. They contained salsa and chips. Rosalie settled down by Bella who was on the couch, looking up some fun stuff to do outside of Forks. That was another thing that was an issue-having to find places out of town for fun because it was less of a risk of running into someone they knew.

Bella didn't mind the distance because each mile could be spent with Rosalie.

"I found some places that specialize in mini golf, and race carts; stuff like that. You interested?"

"Sure," Rosalie said, crunching down on a chip, arm slung possessively around Bella's shoulder. "I'm down to pay for anything you want."

Bella let out a heavy sigh at this. Rosalie was willing to pay for anything Bella wanted which was great and all but the brunette didn't feel comfortable with it because she didn't want Rosalie to pay for everything. Bella wanted to contribute in her own manner but Rosalie never would let her. She'd push Bella's cash away and say, "I have more money than I know what to do with, so let me treat you. Besides, I was kinda a dick to you, and this is part of my way of amending things to you."

Bella would never get used to this fact, but she supposed she should let Rosalie pay, let her make amends in her way. So, she didn't say anything this time to Rosalie's comment, just swallowed down her guilt at feeling like she was using Rosalie.

"We should also make plans for the break. Neither of us will have much to do past the traditional turkey dinner."

"About that," Bella looked up from her phone, squirming slightly. She was worried about how Rosalie would take this. "Thanksgiving break is coming up shortly and my mom wants me to go visit her."

The chip froze midair as Rosalie whirled on Bella. "Really?"

"Yea," Bella said softly. "Charlie already agreed to it. Sorry," she murmured guilty.

"No, don't apologize," Rosalie looked slightly panicked at having Bella feel down. "You didn't do anything wrong. I was just hoping to spend it with you."

"And I with you. But I couldn't talk my way out of it. She said she hasn't seen me in a while," Bella sighed out, feeling her stomach twist up in knots. Visiting her mother would make her nervous. It always did. Because that was were her old bullies lived. And even with months of her last encounter with them cushioning the hurt, she was fearful. And worried.

Rosalie looked away contemplatively. She chewed on her chip slowly. "What if...I came with you?"

"What?" Bella gasped out, her heart pounding in hope and relief. She hadn't considered that before.

"I don't exactly have a family to stay back for," she shrugged casually and Bella could see the pain lacing her face at that even though her voice was even. "And I would still spend time with you this way."

"I'm definitely okay with this," Bella nodded her head.

"And your mother?"

"I don't think she'll mind having another guest over. She always did fancy herself a great host."

Rosalie smiled at Bella. "Than it's a plan. Don't worry about the tickets and booking, I'll take care of everything."

* * *

There was still a week before Bella was supposed to go to her mother's and they busied themselves by going on more dates in case the trip for Thanksgiving didn't work out. Right now they were playing video games on Rosalie's XBox One. Bella had been surprised to see the blonde owned one of those. "I didn't take you for a gamer."

"There's a lot you don't know about me," she answered. "I love playing video games. It helps me calm down."

"Really?" Bella said in disbelief as she watched Rosalie's on screen character pummel the shit out of some poor villain.

"If I beat up people here, I won't have to beat them up in school. I actually got this system not shortly after meeting you."

"Oh." Bella felt her face flush. Had she aggravated Rosalie that much?

"I didn't want to be so violent around you," Rosalie admitted quietly afterwards. "I wanted to calm myself down."

Bella mulled over the significance of those words. "Did it work?"

"Somewhat. I was still really hurt because you didn't know who I was at the time, but it took the edge off." Rosalie tapped the A button really hard and finally cracked the skull of her opponent, signalling her victory.

Bella felt bad that she had unknowingly been hurting Rosalie through her obliviousness, but she felt she shouldn't be too deep in her feelings about it, because Rosalie had been a giant dick to her too. So, they were even, in her book.

"When we go to Phoenix, what do you want to do?"

The question caught Bella off guard. She paused in playing and her character was squashed by a flying rock. "I don't know, um, I thought we were just staying at my mom's house for the week."

"But won't you get bored?" Rosalie's character revived Bella's and the brunette threw herself into the game, trying to come off as casual.

"I think I'll be fine. Besides, it's really hot down there. During the day people don't really do anything."

"We don't have to be outdoors, though i would like to see the weather there. I'm tired of rain and clouds."

Bella could feel a bead of sweat roll down her neck. Why couldn't Rosalie give up this topic? Bella had reasons for not wanting to go out in her old hometown. "Aren't you a model? Haven't you seen nicer places than a desert?"

"Not really. I don't travel much for modeling work. So this would be nice, seeing another part of the US."

Bella knew if she continued to push the issue, it would start to seem suspicious. So she swallowed and prayed that nothing like she feared would happen would occur on her trip. Maybe Victoria would be gone by now. Maybe she wouldn't even remember Bella. She had to stop being so afraid.

As if reading Bella's thoughts, Rosalie spoke up. "Is this about Victoria?"

"No," Bella stubbornly said.

Rosalie paused the game and snatched the controller out of Bella's hand. "It is, isn't it?"

Bella averted her eyes, trying to ignore Rosalie's piercing stare. "Bella," she sighed out, cupping her girlfriend's chin. "Why do you think I volunteered to come with you. I know about your past there; you told me about it. I figured you might be worried about going, so I want to be there to protect you. Will you let me do that?"

"I don't need you to protect me," Bella said gruffly, though she was highly flattered.

"But I want to."

"...okay," Bella said at last. "You can protect me."

"Thank you," Rosalie smiled before leaning in to peck Bella on the lips. "Now, will you actually tell me where and what you want to do in Phoenix?"

 _You,_ Bella thought as the kiss sunk into her brain and turned it to mush. She wouldn't dare say that outloud, but she hoped that one day they could take that leap ahead. Neither of them were virgins but they were playing this relationship by ear, both too afraid to make a misstep in cause it destroyed everything.

"Well, there is this one place..." Bella started and Rosalie listened.

* * *

As Bella stepped out of the airport, she breathed in that dry dusty Arizona air and thought, _yup, I'm finally in Arizona._

"Ooo, sun," Rosalie said, throwing on her shades. She was dressed in a crop top and shorts so short that her ass could almost fall out. "I can finally get that tan for the photo shoot next week."

"I'm staying out of the sun. I only burn."

"Aww, I was hoping to see more of your skin," Rosalie pouted, tugging on the waistband of Bella's pants and revealing a line of pale skin.

"Stop that, my mom is right there," Bella slapped away Rosalie's hand causing the blonde to pout more but she kept her hands to herself this time.

"Bella! So good to see you!" Bella's mother called out, waving her hand. She wearing a huge hat over her head and a tight dress, waddling in her heels over to them. "And is that your friend Rosalie?" She made it up to Bella who felt her chest tighten at the sight of her mother. It had been so long since she'd last been here. She'd missed her mom, but at the same time she couldn't help but blame her for the way things ended up here. She hadn't protected Bella. Had let her get hurt.

She swallowed thickly as her mother pulled her into a hug before doing the same to Rosalie. "I'm Renesmee. A pleasure to meet you."

"Rosalie Hale. The pleasure is mine," Rosalie shot back, all teeth.

"My, what a beautiful girl!" Renesmee squealed out once more. "Where did you find her, Bella?"

"I didn't find her anywhere. She's not a lost pet, mom," Bella sighed out because how could she have forgotten that about her mother too- her obsession with girls who acted like girls. Bella had never been girly enough for her, so she knew Rosalie was going to be her mother's pet project over the break; forced to be subjugated to nail painting and inane gossip. Already Bella could see Rosalie's eyebrow twitching as she tried to keep her notorious temper in. "Let's just get out of the sun."

"Of course, I forgot you ladies must not be used to the sun, given you live in Forks." She grabbed one of Bella's bags and slung it over her shoulder. "Rosalie, tell me about yourself. Where do you live? What do you take in school? Do you work?"

"Erm," it was actually adorable to see Rosalie flustered in the face of all these questions.

Bella decided to come to the rescue. "How's Phil?"

"Oh, Phil? He's great, actually. He and I-" she launched into a diatribe, easily distracted, and Rosalie let out a relieved sigh.

"Thanks," she whispered.

Bella smiled. "She does that a lot. Hope you can get used to it, and quick."

"Well, we won't be in the house a lot. We'll be out and about, having fun."

"I hope so. I sure hope so." Bella reached out a hand and let Rosalie grasp it. Even through all of the blonde's reassurances, Bella felt worried that something bad would happen.


	25. Chapter 25

**A Bad Deal?**

 **A Hell of a Thanksgiving Break Part Two**

It was two days before Thanksgiving, and Bella and Rosalie were going around shopping in the local mall. Rosalie was big on buying clothes; Bella wasn't. Bella had grown up with limited money, so she felt it more prudent to spend her hard earned cash on something useful, like food, or jeans that could last multiple years of use and several washes. Bella also didn't take hours to debate what outfits to get. Rosalie did. She liked to walk the whole store with an eagle eye as she scoped out cute clothing. Bella was more of a 'I came in with a set list of things I wanted to buy, I got them, and I'm leaving'.

So, suffice to say, by hour three, Bella was exhausted. She wanted to go home. When Rosalie had said visit and explore the local city, Bella thought that meant more on visiting the desert, and not on perusing the stores.

"Are you coming in?"

"No, I'll wait outside this time," Bella offered, because she just wanted to sit on the bench and relax her aching feet.

"Okay, I won't be long." Rosalie said that about every store. Bella didn't mind seeing the cute outfit on her girlfriend, but she minded the effort it took for the cute outfit to be procured. Bella sat down and pulled out her phone as she waited, playing some phone games. She lost track of how much time passed, too engrossed in her game. She didn't even notice the three people heading her way until too late.

"Well, well, gentlemen, what do we have here?" a silky but acidic voice poised.

Bella recognized that voice. It was the one that had once inspired butterflies in her stomach, and then later killed those butterflies and replaced them with fingers of dread. She jerked her head up to none other than Victoria and her cronies James and Laurent by her side. They had aged over the years. James had sprouted a goatee, aiding his drugged out look. And Laurent had his long hair combed back greasily, clothes hanging off of his thin body. Whereas they looked like they had come from a dumpster, and smelled like it too, Victoria looked even better than before. Not better than Rosalie of course. Her red long hair was healthy and shiny with virulence. And her skater girl look clothes hugged her body. Yet, there was that same malice in her eyes.

"Bella, back from Forks," Victoria said, eyes hungry for violence. "Missed me?"

"Barely," Bella surprised herself by saying this. It seemed dealing and overcoming all her issues with Rosalie had given her the backbone she so desperately needed.

Victoria looked taken back by this too, but not for long. "Oh, got a mouth on you now?"

"I think she needs to learn how to speak properly to us," James suggested.

"Especially given how we went through the juvenile system thanks to her. It wasn't a piece of cake," Laurent growled out.

Bella's palms began to sweat. Shit. She knew this would happen, thus it staved a bit off of her fear. Yet, that didn't mean old memories weren't flooding her mind, causing her to feel small and weak like she had in the past. An image of Victoria kicking her in the ribs when she was on the floor. One of Victoria pushing her down the stairs. And one when were she had broken into Bella's room and trashed it, before trashing her. Shivers ran down her back. What could she do now? Should she call Rosalie?

As if summoned by her thoughts, the blonde strode out, bag in her hand. "There wasn't much in my tastes in that store..." she trailed off when she saw what was going on. Rosalie's eyes narrowed. She knew who Victoria was, recognized her by the red hair. "I didn't know we had an audience."

"Who the fuck are you?" James spat out.

"Butt out," Laurent added.

"Yea, I'm having a heart to heart chat with Bella here," Victoria sneered.

"I think not," Rosalie edged in between Bella and the trio. Bella was rooted to her seat, only able to grab onto the back of Rosalie's shirt for strength. "She's my girlfriend, and I don't think I want you talking to her."

"Girlfriend?" James sputtered out in shock.

"You're too hot for Bella here," Laurent concluded.

"How'd you snag yourself a girlfriend, dykie," Victoria growled out, not looking happy at this at all. Some nasty emotion twisted up her face. Was it jealousy?

"I choose to be with her," Rosalie hissed out, defensive. Her temper was rising. This wouldn't be good. "And I suggest you back off of her."

"Or what?" Victoria crossed her arms over her chest. "You'll beat me up? Please," she scoffed. "You'll break a nail and go home crying."

Rosalie let her lips twist up cruelly. "Why don't you test me out then? Name the time and place, and I'll meet you there."

Victoria was surprised by this. "Really?"

"Yes." Rosalie was dead serious.

"Rosalie, don't do it," Bella begged. This wouldn't end well. Victoria never played fair.

"Shush now," Rosalie murmured.

"Listen to your girlfriend, Blondie," James warned. Rosalie ignored him, jerking her chin at the red head. "Well?" She really wanted to pound the other woman's face in for all she did to Bella. James and Laurent not so much, since they were the brainless lackeys. But Victoria, for sure.

"Alright then." Victoria nodded her head. "The back exit of Conroy Street, tomorrow night at ten." Then with that, the trio strode off.

Bella only then stood up, her legs not shaking as much. "You can't be serious?"

"I am. She deserves to be beat up for what she did."

"You promised not to get violent anymore! And besides, it's in the past. It's over," Bella stressed.

There was a hard look in Rosalie's eyes. She wouldn't be swayed now. That familiar violence lingered in her eyes as she watched Victoria walk away. She was scheming how to hurt the red head already.

* * *

Bella couldn't stop worrying over Rosalie. She'd tried to stop Rosalie from going to the fight, but the blonde had evaded and put a stop to all efforts by simply not being in the house. Bella didn't want Rosalie to get hurt trying to protect her. It wasn't right. She paced the floor of her room, edgy as the clock turned towards ten pm. Damn it! Worrying wouldn't do any good. She had to go out there and find her girlfriend. She couldn't let her handle all her issues like that.

She threw on a hoodie because it got chilly here at night and then went to her drawer. A long time ago her mother had bought her a taser, but Bella had never had the guts to use it. She pocketed it, and then left the house, saying bye to her mom on the way out.

"Bella, you're going out? Alone?" Shock was on Renesme's face. This was because Bella had never gone out alone due to being scared of the trio, of the danger they posed to her.

She shrugged. "I'll be fine. I have the taser with me. And I'm going to go and met Rosalie."

"Oh, okay," her mother didn't know how to respond to this huge change all of a sudden. A smile eventually wormed onto her lips. "But I'm happy you feel safer. Fork's has really changed you. And so has Rosalie."

Bella was on edge at that comment. Did her mother know about her and Rosalie? But they slept in separate rooms and kept far apart in public. She gave a watery smile, trying to come off as casual. "Yea, she's a good friend." Then she ran out the door before her mother could ask her more.

The streets were dark and where this would have scared Bella before, it only made her feel uneasy. The taser sat heavy in her pocket, and worry for Rosalie sat even heavier in her mind. She hurried over to Conroy street. She only hoped she wasn't too late, the clock saying it was twenty after ten. When she got there, the streets were empty. No one was there.

 _Did Victoria not show up? Did Rosalie leave back home?_

But Victoria would never back out of fight. And neither would Rosalie. So what did that mean? Were they gone somewhere? She thumbed the taser in her pocket fretfully when two boys came around the corner, voices low and annoyed. It was James and Laurent. What were they doing here? Her heart jumped up to her throat.

"Bella," James called out up noticing her. The two of them spotted a few feet away from Bella, eyeing her with distaste. "Where's Victoria and your girl toy?"

"H-how am I supposed to know. I came here looking for them."

"Shit," Laurent cursed loudly. "I knew we should have come earlier to check in." And by check in, Bella knew it meant that they had been on their way to help lend a hand to Victoria in cornering Rosalie. It was a good thing they had missed the red head. They never fought fair.

"Are you looking for them?"

"Of fucking course we are." James was antsy and something like fear filled his voice. This wasn't good. What could have happened? Had Victoria gone off the deep end? Was she going to kill Rosalie?

Oh god. The acidic taste of fear and panic filled Bella's mouth. What was she going to do now? She didn't want to drag Rosalie into her problems, but the blonde had been stubborn. Victoria was certified crazy. There was no telling what she could do! "We have to find them. Now!"

"And where do you get off on ordering us around," Laurent sneered at her.

"This is a serious situation. There's no telling what they could be up to!"

"Yea, well Victoria's beating your girl toy's ass for sure."

Bella shook her head at that. No, she knew Rosalie could hold her own. So it wouldn't be that easy to bring her down. That fact reassured Bella a little bit.

"But since they're not here, why don't the three of us have a little fun," James added.

No. Bella did not like where this was going. They approached her, cracking their knuckles. "It'll be just like old times," James crooned. "You and us, with you on the floor, crying. Scared."

They hovering right over her, and she was glued to the floor. She could run, she knew she could, because the street was to her back. But they were faster. Good thing she had a little helper in her pocket. "Not today," she hissed out and jabbed the end of the taser right into Laurent's stomach. He didn't even scream as his eyes rolled back and his legs buckled underneath him, arms shaking violently.

"Fuck! You fucking crazy bitch!" James jumped back from Bella. He glanced down at Laurent who was moaning softly on the ground.

She let the electricity of the taser snap once in warning and then he was tearing down the street, leaving his friend behind. Breathing hard, but feeling whole and powerful for once, Bella ran all the way back home.

When she got back she was sweaty, eyes wide,with a grin on her face. It felt so good to finally stand up to her biggest tormentors. No doubt, she'd only just pissed them off more, but right now she didn't care. Because she'd won. She'd finally won against them.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" her mother asked, coming into the foyer and noticing Bella's current state.

"Just great. Had a nice run," Bella commented back and then went upstairs to shower. Under the cool spray she felt like she was washing away the cowardly shell of her past self and reinventing and reinvigorating a new beginning for herself, for her future. One in which she was stronger and braver and bolder. When she got out of the shower, feeling refreshed, her phone screen lit up with a call.

It was from Rosalie.

Bella nearly tripped over her own feet in her rush trying to get it. "Rosalie?" she asked breathlessly.

"Hi babe." Rosalie's voice was smooth and even. It sounded like she was fine.

"Where are you? What happened? Are you okay?"

"Calm down," Rosalie said with a chuckle. "Victoria and I are having a heart to heart about our lives."

That was the most absurd thing Bella had ever heard. "You're not fighting?"

"Well, Victoria saw there was no point to it, so she smartly decided to not do it, isn't that right?" Rosalie said that to the red head who must have been in the same room as her. There was a muffled grunt which Bella took to mean a yes.

"Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Yes, Bella, it is."

"Are you coming back soon?" She wanted to tell Rosalie about what she'd done to Laurent. She wanted Rosalie to be proud of her.

"I don't know when I'll be back. But I should be in bed by morning."

"That late?"

"Yes. This is a very _long_ chat. I want Victoria to completely understand me."

"Oh...okay." Bella knew there was more to this. Knew Rosalie was hiding something from her. But she also trusted the blonde to tell her later in the morning. They both had a unanimous unspoken declaration that they would never keep secrets from one another, because keeping stuff hidden was what lead them to fighting each other in the first place. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Bye." Rosalie hung up and Bella threw herself onto the bed, wondering how she was supposed to sleep when now curiosity raged in her veins over what Rosalie was doing.


	26. Chapter 26

**A Bad Deal?**

 **A Hell of a Thanksgiving Break Part Three**

 _A/N: The second to last chapter of this story. Almost to the end._

True to her word, Rosalie showed up in the morning, looking whole. There were no bruises on her skin. No cuts. No signs of trauma. The only indication she had been out and up with Victoria were the bags under her eyes.

"Good morning," Rosalie grumbled out, rubbing sleep out of her eyes as she joined Bella downstairs. Bella had in hindsight brewed them some coffee and Rosalie shuffled to it like a zombie to brains. Only after she had inhaled half of the scalding liquid, did she seem up for interrogation.

"So, what happened?" Bella tried not to sound too much like a girlfriend who had caught her man coming home drunk in the early morning, and more like the girlfriend who was concerned. Basically, not accusatory.

"We talked."

"That's it?" Bella knew there was more to this than Rosalie was saying.

Rosalie's lips curled up, pleased at whatever she was going to say next. "Victoria was at Conroy street last night, so I went to go meet her there."

"You weren't there. Neither was she. I went to go check. "

"We left pretty soon after. Well, I left. She was knocked out. So she was dragged out."

"You knocked her out?" Bella is surprised but not horrified. Not yet. She was glad no fighting took place.

"I snuck up on her. She wasn't expecting me to do that. But I didn't want to engage in a whole fight. I promised to you and to myself that I would be better with holding back my fists and my temper."

Bella patted the top of Rosalie's hand at this. That was nice to hear. Bella felt honored Rosalie would take her promises so seriously. "Then I tied her upside down and hung her from a balcony."

Bella stopped patting Rosalie's hand. "Rosalie!"

"I only did it to scare her a bit! You know she deserved that in the very least for terrorizing you all those years!"

Bella merely shook her head. Small steps. Small steps for Rosalie to walk away from violence. "And then what?"

"I only did that for a couple minutes. Just wanted to soften her up. Get her scared. Get her to listen to me and respect me. And it worked. She listened. While in a chair of course," Rosalie hastily added. She didn't want Bella thinking she'd strung up the girl for the whole duration, though Victoria had been tied up to the chair. "And we talked a lot. About bullying. About why we did it. About why we hurt. And how it only hurt _us_ more in the long run to do it, more than it actually hurt the victims."

"And?" Bella's voice was soft, ears straining to listen intently to what would be said next.

"And I think we made progress. I think it took her a misguided soul to show her, just how badly she was treating those in her life." Rosalie closed her eyes as she thought back to the conversation and all the revelations that had spilled out of Victoria's mouth. All the tears that had pooled down her cheeks. Rosalie had cried too. Past all the hatred and violence, Victoria was a frightened soul whose father had beat her and whose mother had disowned her. But she didn't tell Bella this. She'd let Victoria speak for herself.

Bella sat in silence for a moment, steam rising from her mug. "Now what?"

"Now, she apologizes to you." Just as Rosalie had said that, the doorbell rang. Bella startled so badly she almost dropped her mug. "Is that her?" she hissed, voice low.

"Yes."

"Rosalie!" Bella was outraged, and scared, and angry. "Why would you bring her here!"

"Because it's time to move on, to be braver. Don't you want that?"

Yes, Bella did want that. And she'd started by standing up to Laurent and James that night. It had been so good to see fear in their eyes for once. "Okay." Bella straightened her back, head up high. She opened the door, Rosalie standing behind her just a few feet away in case Bella needed something. Bella only hoped what Rosalie said was true, and that this wasn't some trap, or some way that Victoria was using to get back at Bella. Maybe it was even the boys, trying to get revenge on her.

With a shaking hand, she opened up the door, and on her door step, wearing an apologetic grimace on her face, was Victoria. The two of them stayed like that for a while, just staring. Victoria was the first to break the silence. "Can I come in?"

"No." The rejection was immediately out of Bella's mouth like a reflex. She recalled all too vividly what had occurred last time the red head stepped foot into the house.

"Uh, right. Maybe that's for the best," Victoria said, rocking back on her heels unsteadily. She looked down at the floor. "I just wanted to um, tell you something."

"I'm listening." It was easier for Bella's voice to be hard in the face of the weakness radiating from Victoria than it was to be soft. If she spoke softly than it would be like she was pitying her, and Bella wasn't.

"I uh, well..." Victoria trailed off, entirely uncomfortable. Bella had never seen her like this and it was glorious.

"Spit it out," Rosalie prompted none too kindly from behind Bella.

Victoria nodded her head, sucked in a breath. "I'm sorry for everything I did to you, Bella. I know my apologies won't be enough to make up for all those years of bullying, and of being a bitch to you, but I hope it can be a step in the right direction. And that one day I can work my way towards complete redemption in your eyes."

This was surreal; Bella's old bully apologizing to her. Rosalie really had gotten through to Victoria. It was a miracle. And she'd gotten this change most importantly through words and not fists and threats. Well, minimal threats for the most part.

"Why?" emptied from Bella's mouth without her even planning to speak. "Why did you bully me?"

Like with Rosalie, there had been a reason for it. Rosalie had been heartbroken by Bella's earlier betrayal and refusal to realize who the blonde was. So what had been Victoria's reason. The red head raised pleading eyes at the blonde, wordlessly asking her if she had to do such things. "Tell her," Rosalie's words were steel.

Victoria sucked in another breath. "My mother disowned me as a child, gave me up for adoption when I was just six because she grew tired of 'me'." An ugly laugh at this. "How can you get tired of your flesh and bone?" Victoria asked, and it seemed like she was saying this more to herself, voice low. Her eyes went glazed over before she snapped them back to reality. "I was then adopted by a man, my father, who was strictly Catholic. He used to beat me and yell at me, tell me I was never good enough and that he would make a better girl out of me, because something must have been wrong with me if my own mother didn't want me." Victoria's voice was raw from a lack of telling this story to anyone before. Bella felt like Rosalie and her were the first to hear it.

"And so I was angry at him. And I wanted to take out my hurt on other people. That's why I bullied some kids in school, but nowhere near as much as I bullied you." Victoria shook her head in disgust at herself. "I bullied you because you told me you liked me, and that meant you were gay. And father had told me homosexuals were sinners and wrong. And I was scared. Scared your homosexuality would rub off on me. So I hurt you so you would stop being so close to me. And after a while, it just got easier and easier to continue bullying you, spilling out whatever grievances my father had dealt me onto you." Victoria let out a huge breath, as if finally free. She raised her teary eyes to Bella. "I know it's no excuse what happened to me, for my bullying you. But hopefully you see I wasn't solely picking on you just because I was bored."

"I...I don't know what to say," Bella shook her head. "Don't expect me to feel pity for you. Because you had been my friend once. If you were having issues at home you could have talked to me, we could have done something. I would have been willing to stand up for you to your father. Instead, you chose to push me away in the cruelest manner."

"I wasn't thinking right. I was scared straight by my father."

Bella shook her head. All the hurt and pain and fear could have been avoided if Victoria had just been braver. "Your father is one giant bully. You need to talk to him. You need to get him to stop, to understand what he is doing to you. Standing up to a bully can be scary, but it gets easier once you have a support system in place, once you decide you won't take their shit anymore. Stop the cycle of violence; don't let it continue," Bella voiced.

"I will. I will stand up to him."

"Tell James and Laurent the truth. Let them help you. And if you need someone to kick your father's ass, count me in," Rosalie said.

Victoria nodded, determination in her eyes. "Happy Thanksgiving," and then she left.

Bella stood watching her leave until she couldn't see the red head anymore. "I still can't believe that happened. I've been dreaming and hoping for so long that she would apologize one day to me, just wake up and decide what she was doing was wrong. And you helped with that. Thank you," Bella turned to Rosalie and kissed her gently on the lips. She wanted to express her gratitude in more gratuitous ways but she quickly jumped away from her girlfriend when her mother came down the stairs in her fuzzy bathrobe. "Whose ready to get cooking?!"

It was time to roast the turkey.

 _A/N: I was gonna have Victoria secretly in love with Bella as part of her reason for bullying the girl, but then I decided that was a bit too much so I left it out. The final version is less complicated._


	27. Chapter 27

**A Bad Deal?**

 **The End**

 _A/N: The last chapter of this series. Finally made it here. Thanks for sticking around and reading this story._

Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch, thanks to Rosalie and Bella's help in the kitchen. Bella was an excellent chef, used to cooking meals for both her parents respectively, and Rosalie was eager to help out and to learn some cooking tips. Renesmee was more than glad to have someone helping her despite her earlier protesting that she was fine.

After dinner was over, they played some board games, and then went to bed, stomach still full and heavy. Bella and Rosalie were leaving back home tomorrow so that Bella could still catch the tail end of the holiday with her father. Their flight was at six in the morning and they would be back at nine.

"It was really nice to see you again, Bella. Don't be a stranger," Renesmee had said as they departed, bags in hand. She cupped her daughter's cheeks and planted some soft kisses on them. "And it was nice to meet you," she turned to Rosalie after and gave her a huge hug.

"Yes," Rosalie said, opting out of saying anything else when she knew she wasn't carrying the same sentiments.

Renesmee waved to them until they had finally gone through the security check in, and only then were they able to finally hold hands like the couple they were. "I don't know how much longer I could have lasted without touching you," Rosalie admitted. "Pretending to be friends is hard."

"Don't worry. We'll just make it up when we get back." Bella shot Rosalie a coy smile. One that was full of promise between the sheets. "After all, my father will be at work by the time we get back."

"I like that idea," Rosalie said, throat feeling dry at the prospect of what was coming up. The flight couldn't go by fast enough for her.

It was finally time.

* * *

They'd never done it before with each other-with other people yes- so it took them a while to find their rhythm. But once they found it, they never lost it. It was simple how they fit together, how they knew what the other liked and what the other didn't. Bella liked eliciting gasps from Rosalie, the normally stoic and inexpressive girl coming to pieces, becoming small and weak instead of tough and strong. Rosalie fell apart in Bella's arms.

And Rosalie loved Bella's body language. The girl writhed and squirmed and her nails dug oh so wonderfully painfully into Rosalie's unmarred skin. The way her thighs would shake, the way her arms would wrap around Rosalie's shoulders in a vice like grip. The way she tasted of sweet nectar. One round wasn't enough for either of them. They needed more. And more. Until they lay panting on sweat soaked sheets.

"That was incredible," Bella breathed out harshly.

"Yea," Rosalie agreed, still coming down from her high, on her back, looking up at the ceiling. Bella turned in to her and snuggled up to her shoulder. She was asleep within moments, content that her life was on such an upswing. Her issues from the past had been resolved and she no longer feared home. And she and Rosalie had finally consummated their relationship. All was well with the world.

Rosalie too was thinking about how everything in her life was finally falling together. How it felt right. She stroked her fingers through Bella's sex dampened hair, thinking and thinking of how satisfied she was. How much less anger she felt inside her, no longer seeking out the urge to hurt others. How she loved to do right by Bella; wanted to make her happy. She closed her eyes and finally drifted off to sleep, smiling gently as she did.

* * *

Bella and Rosalie stayed in that happy bubble of theirs for the rest of the duration of the break. They had dinner with Charlie who didn't seem all too happy with Rosalie's presence given he knew that she tended to be a trouble maker. Yet, he said nothing, not wanting to break the beautiful smile he saw on his daughter's face every time Rosalie made a joke. It was nice to see her so happy and free. He hadn't seen her like this ever since she'd come back from Arizona after that terrible bullying incident. He thought he'd lost his Bella forever but here she was, carefree and happy like she'd once been.

He was glad. And perhaps even thankful for Rosalie befriending his little girl.

And after spending some time with Charlie, Bella would head over to Rosalie's empty house, void of warmth or family for they were never around, and they would fill it with their body heat and a chorus of moans and groans before sleeping next to each other.

Unfortunately, it couldn't last because life just didn't work that way. They came back to school on Monday, together but walking separate. At this point, people knew that they were friends in some way so they had stopped giving them stares. Yet, they had started staring again, and Bella didn't know why. Not only staring, but whispering and giggling too as they made their way into the school hallways.

"Why are they acting so weird?" Bella whispered, noting it was directed at Rosalie.

The blonde's face had gone pale. "I don't know," she whispered back. They got their answer a couple of seconds later when they came into the hallways and saw all the walls and lockers plastered with messages and pictures of Rosalie with a girl. The bag slid off of Rosalie's shoulders as she stood there and took it in, jaw quivering. Students were reading the messages and chatting among each other. A couple of them saw Rosalie.

"Didn't know the big bad bully was just a carpet muncher!"

"Why don't you give me a try, I'll make you straight again!"

There were laughs and Bella felt her heart clench in sympathy. Rosalie was in so much shock that she couldn't even respond. Bella roughly grabbed the girl by the shoulders and pushed her into one of the janitor closet's far from the incriminating photos and messages. Rosalie numbly sat down on an upturned bucket, eyes wide and staring at the floor. "It was Alice. She did this," she said softly, voice wavering. "She exposed me. But why?"

"It's going to be okay," Bella insisted, wrapping her arms around the blonde. "We're going to stop this bullying once and for all. Just like I stopped yours with friendship, and just like you stopped Victoria's with friendship. Being kind works."

Rosalie shook her head vehemently. "But I was already 'friends' with Alice. How will being her friend work?"

Bella knew things looked bleak, and personally she was seething on Rosalie's behalf at what the pixie had done. Why did the short haired girl hate Rosalie so much? Why would she do this to her? "We'll make it work. Together."

And Bella truly believed that. When it came to protecting Rosalie, Bella felt like she could move mountains.

She was going to have a word or two with Alice, and she and Rosalie were going to come out of this with their head held high.

They stayed put for a while, Bella stroking the top of Rosalie's head and holding her, while the blonde held back the hot press of tears on her eyes. Eventually Rosalie was able to calm down, and together she and Bella walked out of that closet, heads held high. They had fought too hard to be together, had suffered too long, so they would be damned if they let some pip squeak like Alice take them down.

"Together," Rosalie said.

"Together," Bella affirmed and they went to face the hordes outside.

 _A/N: Decided to end it this way with a bit of hope, that even though the problem hasn't been solved yet, that the two of them will continue to pass the tests placed upon their relationship. Also, walking out of the closet is symbolic in them also going to come out about their relationship._


End file.
